. RESEARCH LIBBARIES
Xi',}^.Atf*!
THE WORKS
REVEREND JOHN ELETCHER,
LATE VICAR OF MADELEY.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOLUME IlL
NEW-YORK,
IHJBLlbHKD BY B. VVAUGH AND T. MASON,
lOlt THE MKTHODIST KriSCOl'AL I'UUKCH, AT TUK CONFEKKNli;
OFFICE, 14 CKOSBY-STKEEl'.
J. (JolIorJ, Priiiltj.
1833.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
A$TdR.YrKr.X a NO
- 1 ILDKN •• . A I iONt.
1903
THE
PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL
OR,
THE TRUE MODEL
CHRISTIANS AND PASTORS,
TRANSLATED FROM A FRENCH MANUSCRI I'T OF THE LATE
REV. JOHN WILLIAM DE LA FLECHERE,
VICAK OF MADELEY.
BY THE REV. JOHN GILPIIV,
VICAR or nOCKWARDlNE, IN THE COUNTY OK SALOx>.
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ, I Cor. xi, I.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
I. PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
Intro:)uction, .......... Page 7
Author's Preface, ........... 8
Trait I. His early piety, . . . . . . . . . .11
II. His Christian piety, .......... 1.3
III. His iutitiiate union vvitli Christ by fititli, . . . . . .18
IV. His extraordinary vocation to the holy ministry, and in what that minis-
try chiefly consists, . . . . . . . . . .19
V. His entire devotion to Jesus Christ, ....... 23
VI. His strengtJi and his arms, ......... 24
VII. His power to bind, to loose, and to bless in the name of the Lord, . 2G
VIII. The earnestness with which he began and continued to fill up the
duties of his vocation, .......... 28
IX. The manner in which he divided his time between prayer, preaching, and
thanksgiving, ........... 29
X. The fidelity with which he announced the severe threatenings and con-
solitary promises of the Gospel, ........ 31
XI. His profound humility, .......... 32
XII. Tlie ingenuous manner in which he acknowledged and repaired his errors, 35
XIII. His detestation of party spirit and divisions, . . . . .36
XIV. His rejection of praise, ......... 38
XV. His universal love, .......... 40
XVI. His particular love to the faithful, ....... 41
XVII. His love to those whose faith was wavering, . . . . -42
XVIII. His love to his countrymen and his enemies, . . . . .42
XIX. His love to those whom he knew only by report, . . . .43
XX. His charity toward the poor in giving, or procuring for them temporal
relief, 44
XXI. His charity toward sinners in ofliering them every spiritual assistance, 4(>
XXII. The engaging condescension of his humble charity, . . . .48
XXI II. His courage in defence of oppressed truth, . . . . . .50
XXIV. His jjrndence in frustrating the designs of his enemies, . . .51
XXV. His tenderness toward others, and his sevei-ity toward himself, . . 53
XXVI. His love never degenerated into cowardice, but reproved and consoled
as occasion required, .......... 54
XXVII. His perfect disinterestedness, ........ 58
XXVIII. His condescension in labouring at times with his own hands, that
he niiglit preach industry by example, as well as by precept, . . 59
XXIX. The respect he manifested for the iioly estate of matrimony, while
C'iiristian prudence engaged him to live in a state of celibacy, . . 61
XXX. The ardour of his love, ......... 61
XXX r. His generous fears and succeeding consolations, . . . .65
XXXII. The grand subject of his glorying, and the evangelical manner in
whicli ho miiiiitainud his sui)eriority over false apostles, . . .67
XXXIII. His patience and fortitude under the severest trials, . . .68
XXXIV. Ilis modest firmness before magistrates, . . . . .69
XXXV. His courage in consoling his persecuted brethren, . . . .70
XXXVI. His humble confidence in producing the steals of his ministry, . 72
XXXVII. His readiness to seal with bis blood, tiie truths of the Gospel, . 76
XXXVIFI. Tlie sweet sus])ense of bis choice between life and death, . . 76
XXXIX. The constancy of his zeal and diligence to tlie end of his course, . 77
XL. His triumph over tlie evils of life, and the terrors of death, . . .78
COXrEATS OF VOLUME III.
II. THE PORTRAIT Ol' LUKEWARM MINISTERS AND FALSE
APOSTLES.
Chapter I. Tlie portrait of lukewarm ministers, .... Page 80
II. The portrait of false apostles, . ........ 82
III. An answer to the first objection which may be made against the portrait
of St. Paul, 8G
IV. A second objection argued against, . 89
V. A third objection replied to, . . .91
VI. A fourth objection refuted, ......... 93
VII. The same subject continued, ........ 96
VIII. A farther reply to the same objection, ...... 98
IX. A farther refutation of the same objection, ...... 101
X. A fifth objection .answered, ......... 103
XI. A reply to the last objection which may be urged against the portrait
of St. Paul, . . ■ 108
III. THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.— PART SECOND.
The doctrines of an evangelical pastor, . . . . . . .111
He preaches true repentance toward God, . . . . . . .112
How sin and the necessity of repentance entered into the world, . .113
This doctrine is maintained by all the Christian Churches, .... 114
Without evangelical repentance, a lively faith in Christ, or regeneration by
the Holy Spirit, will appear not only unnecessary but absurd, . .115
How the faithful pastor leads sinners to repentance, ..... 116
How the prophets, Jesus Christ, his forerunner, and his apostles prepared
sinners for repentance, . . . . . . . . . .118
Observations upon the repentance of worldly men, ..... 121
The second point of doctrine, insisted upon by the true minister, is a living
faith, . , . . . 131
The true minister goes on to announce a lively hope, ..... 145
The true minister preaches Christian charity, ...... 154
The true minister believes and preaches the three grand promises of God,
together with the three great dispensations of grace, . . . .106
The true minister studies the different dispensations, in order to qualify him-
self for the discharge of every jjart of his duty, . . . . .170
The diiferent dispensations are jjroduced by that lovely variety with which
the Ahnighty is pleased to distribute his favours, . . , . .173
The different ])reachers under these difierent dispensations, . . .179
The dispensation of the Holy Spirit is now in force, and the minister who
preaches this disj)ensation cannot justly be esteemed an enthusiast, . 181
The evangelical pastor defends the dispensations of the Spirit against all
opposers, ............ 184 •
IV. THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.— PART THIRD.— AN ESSAY ON
THE CONNECTION OF DOCTRINES WITH MORAIJTY.
PRKr.iMiNARY Observations, .......... L98 '
Chaptkr I. Philosophers, so called, exalt themselves without reason, against
the doctrines of the Gospel, ..... . . 199
II. Tlie doctrines of natural religion and philosophy are insufficient to pro-
duce true cl'.arity in the heart, . . . . . . . . 202
III. The great influence of doctrines upon morality, ..... 206
IV. How the doctrines of the (lospel come into the succour of morality, . 207
V. Rollcctions on the apostles' creed . . . • ■ • • • 209
VI. The connection of morality with the second i)art of the apostles' creed, 211
VII. The connection of morality with the third part of the apostles' creed, 213
VIII. Consequences of the foregoing observati(jns, ..... 211
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III. 5
Chapter IX. An appeal to experience, ...... Page 215
X. An objection answered, wliich may bo drawn from the ill conduct of
unholy ("hristians, to prove the inutility of the doctrines of the Gospel, 218
XI. The same subject contiiuicd, ......... 222
XII. Other reasons given for tlic little influence which the foregoing doc-
trines are observed to have on t'hristians in general, .... 223
XIII. The doctrines of Christianity have an obscure side. Reasons of this
obscurity. Errors of some philosophers in this respect, . . . 225
XIV. The advantages of redemption are extended in difl'erent degrees to all
mankind through every period of tiio world, ...... 230
XV. Reflections on the danger to which modern Deists expose themselves, 235
V. APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT AND COMMON SENSE.
Dedication, ............. 245
Contents, 247
Introduction, ............ 249
Part I. The doctrine of man's corrupt estate, stated, ..... 251
II. Man considered as an inhabitant of the natural world, .... 257
III. As a citizen of the moral world, ........ 276
IV. As belonging to the Ciiristian world, ....... 309
V. Inferences from the whole, ......... 330
Concluding address to the serious reader, ....... 343
Appendix, ............. 373
VI. VINDICATION OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH OF THE TRINITY.
Preface by the editor, ........... 379
IxTRODi'CTioN, showiug tho Occasion of the work, and addressing the reader, 387
ExposTui.ATORV letter to the Rev. Dr. Priestley, in four parts, . . . 391
Chapter I. A general view of the catholic faith, concerning the Father, Son,
and Holy Chost, and the subject in debate between Catholics and Deists
of every description, .......... 398
IT. The sources of the popular arguments against the catholic faith, . . 402
III. God the Father has a proper Son, by whom he made, and governs, and
will judge the world, .......... 407
IV. Our Lord claimed the Divine honour of being the proper Son of God the
Father, 412
V. The view which the apostles give us of Christ after their most perfect
illumination, ............ 414
VI. The apostles apply to Christ many passages of the Old Testament, mani-
festly intended of llie true God, ........ 122
VII. Tlic inspired writers give (Christ the names and titles, and ascribe to
him 1 he perfections of tho true God, ....... 431
VIII. -The apostles represent Christ as the immediate author of the Divine
works, whether of creation or preservation, ...... 440
IX. Christ is the Redeemer and Saviour of lost mankind, .... 44G'
X. Christ is the final and universal Judge, ....... 45.3
XI. Divine worship was paid to him by patriarchs^ prophets, and apostles,
and is his undoubted right, ......... 461
XII. Christ is also very man, . . . . . . . . . 475
XIII. Objections answered, . 483
XIV^. The use of the doctrine of Christ's divinity, ..... 491
VII. SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL; OR, THE SECOND PART OF A
VINDICATION OF CHRIST'S DIVINITY.
Preface by the editor, . 501
Letter II. To Dr. Priestley, proving that Our first parents expected a Divine
Messiah, and that the Divine person who appeared to the patriarchs,
&c, was Christ in his pre-existent state, ...... 507
O CONTKXTS OF VOUIME III.
Lf.tter HI. Tlin subject colli iniiod, ...... Page 511
IV. Tlic throo orijrinal pronii.ses concerning Ihn Mossiali, tlie foundation of
the proofs ol'liis divinity from the writings of"tlie prophets, . . . 514
V. All tlie projjhets exhibit Christ as tlie l>ruiser of the serpent, and the
prosperous king reigning in righteousness, ...... 519
VI. The testimony borne by the prophets to the Godhead of Clu'ist, . . 530
VII. The evangelists and apostles attest his divinity, ..... 544
VIII. The same subject continued, ........ 550
IX. Dr. Priestley is confronted with St. Paul, and our Lord's Divine glory
is seen in that apostle's writings, ........ 555
VIII. SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL CONTINUED, IN LETTERS TO
THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
Letter I. The Epistle to the Romans reviewed, and sundry passages of il
shown to be irreconcilable with common sen.se, on supposition that the
author held the doctrine of Clirist's mere humanity, .... 5C3
II. The two Epistles to the Corinthians considered, and many passages of a
similar nature pointed out, ......... 568
HI. The Epistle to the Galatians, and that to the Ephesians, proved to con-
tain a doctrine equally absurd, if Clirist be a mere man, . . . 57-3
IV. The Epistle to the Pliilippians, and that to the Colossians, must be viewed
in the same light, ........... 577
V. The Epistle to theThes.salonians equally inconsistent with connnon sense
on the same supposition, ......... 582
VI. The Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, are also inconsistent
therewitli, ............ 585
VII. The Epistle to the Hebrews affords abundant proof of the absurdity of
its doctrine, if Christ be a mere man, ....... 589
VIII. The Epistle of St. James, and those of St. Peter, exhibit a doctriue
equally absurd, on the same supposition, ...... 595
IX. Tlie Epistles of St. John, and that of St. .Tudo. were written in the same
strain of absurdity, if the doctrine of Christ's mere Immanity be true, . 598
X. The same doctrine of Christ's mere humanity represents the a()ostle John
as writing without common sense in the Apocalypse, and fathers similar
absurdity on John the Ba|)tist, ........ 604
XI. It represents Christ himself as uttering declarations absurd, and even
bhisphemoiis, and that, as well after his ascension into heaven, as during
his abode on eartii, . . . . . . . . . . 610
INTRODUCTION.
The following work was begun and nearly completed in the course
of Mr. Fletcher's last residence at Nyon, where it formed a valuable
part of his private labours, during a long and painful confinement from
public duty. On his return to England he suffered the manuscript to
lie by him in a very loose and disordered state, intending, at his leisure,
to translate and prepare it for the press. In the meantime he entered
upon the arduous task of revising and enlarging a French poem, which
he had lately published at Geneva under the title of " La Louange," and
which was reprinted at London in the year 1785, under the title of
" La Grace et la Nature." The second appearance of this poem was
speedily followed by the dissolution of the author. Soon after this
melancholy event had taken place, Mrs. Fletcher, in looking over the
papers of the deceased, discovered the first part of the Portrait of St.
Paul, with the perusal of which she favoured the translator, who finding
it a work of no common importance, was readily induced to render it
into English. From time to time different parts of the work were dis-
covered, and thougli the manuscript was so incorrect and confused, as
frequently to stagger the resolution of the translator, yet a strong per-
suasion that the work was calculated to produce the most desirable
effects, encouraged him to persevere till he had completed his under-
taking.
It is scarcely necessary to inform the intelligent reader that the
Portrait of St. Paul was originally intended for publication in the author's
native country, to which its arguments and quotations apply with pecu-
liar propriety. It may be more necessary to observe, that had the life
of Mr. Fletcher been prolonged, the traits of St. Paul's moral character
would have been rendered abundantly more copious and complete.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Many celebrated writers have offered excellent treatises to the public,
some on the character of a true Christian, and others on the duties of a
good paslor. It were to be wished that these two objects might be so
closely united as to fall under the same poiiit of view : and to effect such
a union is the design of this work, in which may be seen, at one view,
what were the primitive Christians and the apostolic pastors ; and what
the)^ are required to be, who are called to follow them in the progress
of piety.
As example is more powerful than precept, it was neccssaiy that
some person should be singled out, who was both an excellent Christian,
and an eminent minister of Jesus Christ. The person we fix upon is
St. Paul, in whom these two characters were remarkably united, and a
sketch of whose wondrous portrait we endeavour to exhibit in the follow-
ing pages. When this apostle is considered as a Christian, his diligence
in filling up the duties of his vocation, his patience in times of trial, his
courage in the midst of dangers, his perseverance in well doing, his faith,
his humility, his charity, all sweetly blended together, constitute him an
admirable model for eveiy Christian. And when we regard him as a
dispenser of the mysteries of God, his inviolable attachment to truth, and
his unconquerable zeal, equally distant from fanaticism and indifierence,
deserve the imitation of every minister of the Gospel.
The Holy Scriptures ftirnish materials in abundance for the present
woi-k ; the Acts of the Apostles, from chapter viii, containing little else
than a narration of the labours of St. Paul, or an abridgment of his ser-
mons and apologies. The New Testament, beside the Acts, contains
twenty-two different books, fourteen of which were composed by this
apostle himself, with all the frankness suited to the epistolary style, and
all the personal detail into which he was obliged to enter when writing
in an uncommon variety of circumstances, to his friends, his brethren,
and his spiritual children. It is on such occasions that a man is most
likely to discover what he really is ; and it is on such occasions that
the moral painter may take an author in the most interesting positions,
THE AUTHOR S PREFACK. 9
in order to delineate, with accuracy, his sentiments, his circumstances,
and his conduct.
Let it not be said that, in proposing this apostle as a model to Chris-
tians, we do but cast discouragements in the way of those who are at an
immense distance beliind him, with respect both to grace and diligence.
The masterly skill that Raphael and Rubens have discovered in their
pieces, sers'es not to discourage modern painters, who rather labour to
form themselves by such grand models. Poets and orators are not dis-
heartened by those chef (Tcmvres of poehy and eloquence which Homer
and Virgil, Demosthenes and Cicero, have transmitted to posterity;
why then should we be discouraged by considering the eminent virtues
and unwearied labom-s of this great apostle ? The greater the excel-
lence of the pattern proposed, the less likely is the laboured copy to be
incomplete.
It is granted that all the faithful are not called to be ministers, and
that all ministers are not appointed, like St. Paul, to establish new
Churches : but it is maintained, that all Christians, in their different
states, are to be filled with the piety of that apostle. If the most incon-
siderable trader among us is not allowed to say, " I deal only in trifling
articles, and therefore should be indulged with a false balance," — if such
a trader is required to be as just in his shop, as a judge on Iris tribunal ;
and if the lowest volunteer in an army is called to show as much valour
in his humble post, as a general officer in his more exalted station ; the
same kind of reasoning may be applied to the Christian Church : so that
her youngest commimicant is not permitted to say, " My youth, or the
weakness of my sex, excuses me from exercising the charity, the humi-
lity, the dihgence, and the zeal which the Scriptures prescribe."
It should be laid down as an incontrovertible truth, that the same
zeal which was manifested by St. Paul for the glory of God, and the
same charity that he displayed, as an apostle, in the very extensive
scene of his labours, a mmister is called to exercise, as a pastor, in his
parish, and a private person, as father of a family, in his own house.
Nay, even every woman, in proportion to her capacity, and as the other
duties of her station pennit, should feel the same ardour to promote the
salvation of her children and domestics, as St. Paul once discovered to
promote that of the ancient Jews and Gentiles. Observe, in the hai*vest
field, how it fares with the labourers, when they are threatened with an
impetuous shower. All do not bind and bear the weighty sheaves.
Every one is occupied according to their rank, their strength, their age,
10 THE AlITIIOK S J'REFACK.
and their sex ; and all are in action, even to the little gleaners. The
true Church resembles this field. The faithful of every rank, age, and
sex, have but one heart and one mind. According to their state, and
the degree of their faith, all are animated to labour in the cause of God,
and all are endeavouring to save either communities, families, or indi-
viduals, from the \vrath to come ; as the reapers and gleaners endea-
vour to secure the rich sheaves, and even the single ears of grain, from
the gathering storm.
If, in the course of this work, some truths are proposed which may
appear new to the Christian reader, let him candidly appeal, for the
validity of them, to the Holy Scriptures, and to the testimony of reason,
supported by the most respectable authorities, such as the confessions
of faith adopted by the purest Churches, together with the works of the
most celebrated pastors and professors who have explained such con-
fessions.
\mong other excellent ends proposed in pubhshing the following
sheets, it is hoped that they may bring back bigoted divines to evangeli-
cal moderation, and either reconcile, or bring near to one another the
orthodox professor, the imperfect Christian, and the sincere deist.
THE FIRST TRAIT
IN THE MORAL CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL.
His early piety.
The great apostle of the Gentiles bore no resemblance to those who
reject the service of God, till they are rendered incapable of gratifying
their unruly passions. He was mindful of his Creator from his early
youth, and as an observer of religious rites outstripped the most exact
and rigid professors of his time ; so that the regularity of his conduct,
the fervour of his devotion, and the vivacity of his zeal, attracted the
attention of his superiors in every place. Observe the manner in which
lie himself speaks on this subject, befort; the tribunal of Festus : " My
manner of life, from my youth, which was at the tirst among mine own
nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the be-
ginning, (if they would testify,) that after the straitest sect of our religion
I lived a Pharisee," Acts xxvi, 4, 5. Having occasion afterward to
mention the same circumstances, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he
writes thus : " Ye have heard of my conversation in time past, how I
profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation,
being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers," Gal. i,
13, 14. And to what an extraordinary pitch of excellence he had
carried his morality, may be infcn-ed from the following short, but
solemn declaration, which was made in the presence of persons who
were very well competent to have convicted him of falsehood, had there
been found the least blemish in his outward conduct : " Men and bre-
thren, I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day,"
Acts xxiii, 1. Such was the early piety of St. Paul ; and such was the
righteousness in which he trusted, when, through zeal for the Church
and state, of which he was a member, he persecuted Christians as
disturbers of the public peace.
Having seen the beautiful side of this apostle's early character, let us
now consider his defects. As a member of the Jewish Church he was
inspired with zeal, but that zeal was rigid and severe ; as a member of
society, his manners were jirobably courteous, but on some occasions
his behaviour was tyrannical and inhuman ; in a word, he possessed
the whole of religion, except those essential parts of it, humility and
charity. Supercilious and impatient, he would bear no contradiction.
Presuming upon his own sufficiency, he gave himself no time to com-
pare iiis errors with truth : and hence, covering his cruelty with the
specious name of zeal, he breathed out " threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord," Acts ix, 1. He himself, speaking
of this part of his character, makes the following humiliating confession :
"1 was a blasphemer and a persecutor, and injurious," 1 Tim. i, 13.
" I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary
to tiie name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusa-
12 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. TAVL.
lem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received
authority from tlie chief priests ; and when tliey were put to death I
gave my voice against them. And 1 punished them oft in every syna-
gogue, and compelled them to blaspheme ; and being exceedingly mad
against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities," Acts xxvi,
9-11,
Nevertheless, this rigid Pharisee, who carried his devotion to bigotrj'',
and his zeal to fury, had an upright heart in the sight of (rod. " I ob-
tained mercy," says he, after his conversion, " because I did it igno-
rantly in unbelief," 1 Tim. i, 1 3 ; imagining, that when I persecuted
the disciples of Jesus, I was opposing a torrent of the most dangerous
errors.
Piety is that knowledge of God and his various relations to. man,
which leads us to adore, to love, and obey him in publi<; and in private.
This great virtue is the first trait in the moral character of St. Paul ; and
it is absolutely necessary to the Christian character in general, since it is
that parent of all virtues, to which God has given the promise of the
present life, and of that whicli is to come. But it is more particularly
necessary to those who consecrate themselves to the holy ministry ;
sincebeing obliged by their office to exhibit before their flock an ex-
ample of piety, if they themselves arc destitute of godliness, they must
necessarily act without any conformity to the sacred character they
have dared to assume.
If Quintilian the heathen has laid it dow-n as a general principle, that
it is impossible to become a good orator without Imug a good man,
surely no one will deny that piety should be considered as the first
qualification essential to a Christian speaker. Mons. Roques, in his
" Evangelical Pastor," observes that " the minister, by his situation, is
a man retired from the world, de\'oted to God, and called to evangeUcal
holiness. He is," continues he, " according to St. Paul, ' a man of
God,' that is, a person entirely consecrated to God ; a man of superior
excellence ; a man, in some sense, divine ; and to answer, ui any de-
gree, the import of this appellation, it is necessary that his piety should
be illustrious, solid, and universal." Without doubt this pious author
had collected these beautiful ideas from the writings of St. Paul, who
thus addresses Titus upon the same subject : " A minister must be
blameless as the steward of God ; not self-willed, not soon angry, not
given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre : but a lover of hos-
pitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temjierate ; holding fast
the faithful word, that he niay be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort
and convince the gainsayers," Tit. i, 7-9. " He must use sound speech,
that cannot be condemned : in doctrine showing uncon'uptness, gi-avity,
sincerity ; that he who is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having
no evil thing to say of him," 'I'it. ii, 7, 8.
A pastor without piety disgraces the holy profession which he has
made choice of, most probably from the same temporal motives which
influence others to embrace the study of the law, or the profession of
arms. If those who are called to serve tables were to be " men of
honest report, full of the Holy GMiost and wisdom," Acts vi, 3, it is evi-
dent that the same dispositions and graces should be possessed, in a.
more eminent degree, by those who are called to minister in holy things.
THE POKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 13
" When thou art converted," said Christ to Peter, " strengthen thy bre-
thren," Luke xxii, 32.
No siglit can be more absurd than that of an impenitent infidel en-
gaged in calhng sitmers to repentance and faith. Even the men of the
world look down with contempt upon a minister of this description,
whose conduct perpetually contradicts his discourses, and who, while
he is pressing upon others the necessity of holiness, indulges himself in
the pleasures of habitual sin. Such a preacher, far from being instru-
mental in eftecting true conversions among his people, will generally
lead his hearers into the same hypocrisy which distinguishes his own
character: since that which was said in ancient times holds equally
true in the present day, "Like people, like priest," Hos. iv, 9. "Luke-
warm pastors make careless Christians ; and the w orldly preacher leads
his worldly hearers as necessarily into carnal security, as a blind guide
conducts the blind into the ditch. And to this unhappy source may be
traced the degenerate manners of the present age, the reproach under
which our holy religion labours, and the increasing triumphs of
infidelity.
" The natural man," saith St. Paul, " receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned," 1 Cor. ii, 14. Now, if a
minister, who is destitute of Scriptural piety, is counted unable to com-
prehend the doctrines of the Gospel, how much less is he able to pub-
lish and explain them ? And if those, who live according to the vain
customs of the \\ orld, have not the righteousness of the Pharisees, with
what propriety can they be called, I will not say, true ministers, but
even pious Deists ?
Though every candidate for the sacred ministry may not be in cir-
cumstances, to declare with St. Paul, " I have lived in all good con-
science before God unto this day :" yet all who aspire to that important
office should, at least, be able to say with sincerity, " Herem do 1 exer-
cise myself, to have always a conscience void of ofl'ence, toward God
and toward man," Acts xxiv, 16. Such were the morals and the con-
duct of a Socrates and an Epictetus : and worshippers lilie these,
" coming from the east and from the west," shall enter into the king-
dom of heaven, " while the children of the kingdom shall be cast out
into outer darkness," Matt, viii, 11, 12.
TRAIT II.
His Christian jnety.
It has been made sufficieiitly plain, under the preceding article, that
St. Paul was possessed of a good degree of piety from his veiy infancy.
Having been brought uj) in the fear of God by his father, who is sup-
posed to have been a zealous Pliarisee, lie was afterward instructed at
the feet of Gamaliel, a pious doctor of the law, to whose wisdom and
moderation St. Luke has borne an honourable testimony. Acts v, 34.
And so greatly had he profited in his youth by these inestimable privi-
leges, that " touching the righteousness which is of the law," he was
blameless. But this piety was not sufficient under the New Testament.
14 THE POKTIIAIT OF ST. PAUL.
To become a Christian and a true minister of the Gospel, it is neces-
sary to have not only the piety of a sincere Deist, or of a devout Jew,
as St. Paul had before his conversion, but also those higher degrees of
piety which that apostle possessed, after he had received the two-fold
gift of deep repentance toward God and living faith in Jesus Christ.
The basis of piety among the Jews was a knowledge of God, as Cre-
ator, Protector, and Re warder ; but, in order to have Christian piety, it
is necessary, that to this knowledge of God as Creator, &c, should be
added that of God the Redeemer, God the destroyer of all evils, God
our Saviour; or in other words, the knowledge of Jesus Christ. "This
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent," Jolm xvii, 3.
But who can truly know, I will not say his Saviour, but merely his
need of a Saviour, without first becoming acquainted with his own heart,
and receiving there a lively impression both of his sin and liis danger ?
A- student in theology, who has not yet submitted himself to the maxim
of Solon, " Know thyself;" and who has never mourned imder that
sense of our natural ignorance and depravity which forced Socrates to
confess the want of a Divine instructer : — a candidate, I say, who is
wholly unacquainted with hiniself, instead of eagerly soliciting the
imposition of hands, should rather seek after a true understanding of
the censure which Christ once passed upon the pastor of the Laodicean
Church : " Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked," Rev. iii, 17.
If a young man steals into the ministry without this knowledge, far
from being able to preach the Gospel, he will not even comprehend that
first evangelical principle, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven," Matt, v, 3. And instead of devoutly offering up to
God the prayers of an assembled congregation, he will constantly begin
the sacred ofiice by an act of hypocrisy, in saying, " Almighty Father,
we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have
oflTended against thy holy laws. There is no health in us. But thou,
O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners." After making these
confessions in public, when he is interrogated in private respecting that
misery and condemnation, under a sense of which he so lately appeared
to gi'oan, he will not scruple immediately to contradict what he has
so plainly expressed : thus discovering to every imi)artial observer,
that when he prays in public, he prays either as a child who luuler-
stands not what he repeats, or as a deceiver, who appears to believe
what he really gives no credit to, and that merely for the sake of en-
joying the pension of a minister, and his ranli in society.
What is here said of ministers is equally applicable to Christians in
general. If any one dares to approach the sacramental table, there to
make a profession of being redeemed from eternal death by the death
of Christ, before he is deeply humbled under a sense of the condemna-
tion due to his sin : can such a one be said to perform an act of piety ?
Is he not rather engaged in performing an act of vain ceremony and
presumptuous dissimulation in the presence of God ? The feigned
humiliation of such a communicant would resemble that of a rebel sub-
ject, who, without any consciousness that his actions had merited d<;ath,
should cast himself, from motives of interest, at the feet of his prince.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. VAVU 15
and affect to rejoice under a sense of that undeserved clemency which
permitted him to hve. All our professions of faith in Christ are tinctured,
more or les^s, with hypocrisy, milcss preceded by that painful conviction
of past errors, whence alone can cordially flow those humiliating con-
fessions, with which we are accustomed to begin our sacred services.
The true Christian, and, consequently, the true minister, is con-
strained to cry out, with St. Paul, when he discovered the purity of
Jehovah's law, and the greatness of his own guilt : " The law is spi-
ritual," and demands an obedience correspondent to its nature ; " but I
am carnal, sold under sin : for what I would, that I do not ; but what I
hate, that I do. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no
good thing. O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" Rom. vii, 14-24.
In this manner the true penitent, weaiy and heavy laden, makes hia
approaches to the Saviour ; and while he continues to implore his grace
and favour, im incomprehensible change takes place in his soul. His
groans are suddenly turned into songs of dehverance, and he is enabled
to adopt the triumphant language of the great apostle : " I thank God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord ; for the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them wliich are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. vii, 25 ; viii, 1, 2.
Every true follower of Christ, therefore, and especially every true
minister of the Gospel, has really experienced the evil of sin, the ina-
bility of man to free himself from such evil, and the efiicacy of that
remedy, which endued the first Christians with so extraordinary a
degree of purity, power, and joy. And in testimony of the virtue of
this sovereign remedy, every such follower has a right to declare with
his happy predecessors, ' We give thanks unto the Father, wlio hath
mad(; us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light :
who hatli delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath trans-
lated us into the kingdom of his dear Son ; in whom we have redemp-
tion through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins," Col. i, 12-14.
When a preacher is possessed of Christian piety ; or, in other words,
when he has made his peace with God, by that deep repentance which
enables us to die unto sin, and by that living faith which unites us to
Christ, he naturally invites the world to embrace a Savioiur who has
wrought for him so wonderful a deliverance : and this invitation he
enforces with all the power and warmth which must ever accompany
deep sensibility. After having believed with the heart to the obtaining
of righteousness, he is prepared to confess with his lips, and to testify ot'
his salvation : crying out, as sincerely as Simeon, but in a sense far
more complete, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ;
for, according to thy word, mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
" Here," says Mr. Ostervald, " may be applied what was spoken by our
blessed Lord, 'A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart,
bringeth forth good things.' Erasmus speaks the same thing, Nihil
potent ins ad cxcilandos honos affect us, quam pionnu ajfeciuum fontem habere
in pcctore. Si vis me Jlere, ddlendum est, 6fc : that is, following the idea
of the author, you will never win others over to a religious life, unless
you yourself are first possessed of piety. This inspires thoughts, dis-
1& THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
positions, and words, which nothing else can produce. It is this that
animates the voice, the gesture, and every action of the Christian
preacher. When he is thus grounded in piety, it is difficult to conceive
with what facility, and with what success he labours, still enjoying an
unspeakable sweetness in himself. Then it is that he is truly sensible
of his vocation ; then he speaks in the cause of God, and then only he
is in a proper situation to affect others."
It appeared so necessary to the fathers, who composed the s3nnod of
Berne, that eveiy minister should be possessed of solid piety, that they
believed it impossible for a man to be a good catechist without it. After
recommending it to pastors to explain among the youth, the Lord's
prayer and the apostles' creed, they add : " This will be abundantly
more efiectual, if, first of all, we are careful that Jesus Christ may arise
in our owTi hearts. The fire, with which we should then be animated,
would soon stir up and warm the docile minds of children. Otherwise,
that v/liich reason alone draws from books, and is taught by other men,
is no more than a human work, and will be ineffectual, till the great
Master, the Holy Spirit itself, becomes of the party, creating, renewing,
and regenerating to a celestial and eternal life." (Acts of the Synod,
chap, xxxiv.)
REFLECTIONS
Upon tlw second trait of the character of St. Paid.
1. The experimental knowledge of our misery as sinners, and of our
salvation as sinners redeemed, is the portion of everj^ believer under the
Gospel. If we are destitute of this two-fold knowledge, we are yet in
a state of dangerous ignorance, and are denominated Christians in vain :
for Christian humility has its source in the knowledge of our corruption,
as Christian charity flows from the knowledge of the great salvation
which Christ has procured for us : and if these two graces are not
resident in our hearts, our religion is but tha shadow of Christianity.
2. As there are some persons whose physiognomy is strongly
marked, and who have something peculiarly striking in the whole turn
of their countenance ; so there are some, the traits of whose moral
character are equally striking, and whose conversion is distinguished
by uncommon circumstances. Such was the Apostle Paul. But a train
of wonderful occurrences is by no means necessary- to conversion. For
example — It is not necessary that all believers should be actually cast
to the earth : or that groaning beneath the weight of their sins, and
under the conviction of a two-fold blindness, they should continue in
prayer for three days and nights, without either eating or drinking.
But it is absolutely necessary that they should be sensible of an extreme
sorrow for having offended a gracious God ; that they should condemn
themselves and their vices by an imfeigned repentance, and that, con-
fcssing the depravity of their whole heart, they should abandon them-
selves to that sincere distress which refuses all consolation, except that
which is from above. Neither is it necessary that they should liear a
voice from heaven, that they should see a light brighter than the sun,
or behold, in a vision, the minister chosen to bring them consolation in
the name of the Lord Jesus. But it is absolutely necessaiy that they
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 17
should hear the word of God, that they should be illuminated by the
Gospel, and receive directions from any messenger sent for their relief;
till, placing their whole confidence in God through a gracious Redeemer,
they feel a new and heavenly nature produced within them. This
sincere repentance and this living faith, or, which is the same thing,
this Christian piety, is strictly required of every believer under the New
Testament.
3. Christian piety constitutes the great difference that is observed
between true ministers and unworthy pastors. The latter preach,
chiefly, either in order to obtain benefices, or to preserve them, or,
perhaps, to relieve one another in the discharge of those duties which
they esteem heavy and painful. But the desire of communicating to
sinners that spiritual knowledge, which is more precious than rubies, is
the grand motive for preaching with the true ministers of God. They
pubUsh Christ, hke St. Paul, from sentiment and inchnation ; exposing
themselves even to persecution on account of preaching the Gospel, like
those faithful evangelists, who, when commanded to teach no more in
the name of Jesus, answered with equal respect and resolution : " Whe-
ther it be right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye ; for we cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heaid," Acts iv, 19, 20.
4. It is worthy of observation, that St. Paul supplicates, not only for
all public teachers, but for every private believer in the Church, the
highest degrees of grace and Christian experience. " I cease not,"
saith he to the Ephesians, " to make mention of you in my prayers :
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ;
the eyes of your understanduig being enlightened, that ye may know
what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the gloiy of his
inheritance in the saints : and what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward, who believe," Eph. i, 16-19. And the same end
which this apostle proposed to himself in his private supplications, St.
John also proposed to himself in writing his public Epistles : " That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye may also
have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write wo unto jou,
that your joy may be full," 1 John i, 3, 4. As though he had said.
We write, if haply we may excite you to seek afler higher degrees of
faith, charity, and obedience ; " tliat being rooted and grounded in love,
ye may be able to comprehend with all saints, the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge ; that ye may be filled with all the fulness of
God," Eph. iii, 17-19. The attentive reader will easily perceive, that
what was once the subject of St. Paul's most ardent prayers, is at this
day considered by nominal Christians in general, as a proper subject
for the most pointed raillery.
5. Those ministers who are not yet furnished with Christian expe-
rience, and who are not seeking after it as the pearl of great price,
held out to us in the Gospel, are not yet truly converted to the Christian
faith : and (I repeat it after Mr. Ostervald) being destitute of Christian
piety, far from being in circumstances to preach the Gospel, they are
not even able to comprehend it. These are tliey, " who, having a fona
Vol. Ill 2
18 Tllii PORTRAIT OF ST. PAIIL.
of godliness, deny the power thereof," 2 Tim. iii, 5. And the greatest
culogium that can be pronounced upon such characters, is that \vith
which St. Paul honoured the unbelieving zealots of his time : " I bear
them record that they have a zeal for God ;" but that zeal is unaccons
panied with any true knowledge, either of man's weakness, or the
Redeemer's power : " for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness,
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submit,
ted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x, 2-4.
6. Whoever has not experienced that conviction of sin, and that
repentance, which is described by St. Paul in the seventh chapter of his
Epistle to the Romans, though, Uke Nicodemus, he may be " a doctor
in Israel," yet he shall never see the kingdom of God. Totally carnal,
and satisfied to continue so, he neither understands nor desires that
regeneration which the Gospel proposes and insists upon. He endea-
vours not to fathom the sense of these important words : " Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the king-
dom of God," John iii, 8. He considers those who are bom of the
Spirit as rank enthusiasts, and disdains to make any serious inquiiy
respecting the foundation of their hope. If his acquaintance with the
letter of the Scripture did not restrain him, he would tauntingly addiess
the artless question of Nicodemus to every minister who preaches the
doctrine of regeneration : " How can a man be bom when he is old ?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born ?"
John iii, 4. And unless he was withheld by a sense of politeness, he
would rudely repeat to eveiy zealous follower of St. Paul the ungracious
expression of Festus : " Thou art beside thyself; much" mystic "learn-
ing doth make thee mad," Acts xxvi, 24.
7. On the contrary, a minister who is distinguished by the second
trait of the character of St. Paul, at the same time proportionably pos-
sesses eveiy disposition necessary to form an evangelical pastor : since
it is not possible for Christian piety to exist without the brilliant light
of truth, and the burning zeal of charity. And every minister who has
this light and this love, is enriched with those two powerful resources
which enabled the first Christians to act as citizens of heaven, and the
first ministers as ambassadors of Christ.
TRAIT Til.
His intimate union with Christ by faitJi.
" I A3I come," said the good Shepherd, " that my sheep might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly," John x, 10, 11.
" I am the light of the world," John viii, 12. " I am the way, the truth,
and the life," John xiv, G. " I am the vine ; ye are the branches,"
John XV, 5. The faithful minister understands the signification of these
mysterious expressions. He walks in this way, he follows this light,
he embraces this truth, and enjoys this life in all its rich abundance.
Constantly united to his Lord, by an humble faith, a lively hope, and an
ardent charity, he is enabled to say, with St. Paul, " The love of Christ
construincth me ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then
THE PORTRAIT OF 6T. PAUL. 19
were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and
rose again," 2 Cor. v, 14. " We are dead, and our lite is hid wth
Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
we also appear with him hi glory," Col. iii, 3, 4. " For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more ; but liveth unto God. We likewise
reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through
Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vi, 5, 9, 11.
This living faith is the source from whence all the sanctity of the
Christian is derived, and all the power of the true minister. It is the
medium through which that sap of grace and consolation, those streams
of peace and joy, are perpetually flowing, which enrich the believing
soul, and make it fruitful in every good work ; or, to speak without a
metaphor, from this powerful grace proceeds that love of God and man
which influences us to think and act, either as members or as ministers
of Jesus Christ. The character of the Christian is determined accord-
ing to the strength or weakness of his faith. If the faith of St. Paul
had been weak or wavering, his portrait would have been unworthy of
our contemplation : he would necessarily have fallen into doubt and dis-
couragement ; he might probably have sunk into sin, as St. Peter
plunged into the sea ; he must, sooner or later, have lost his spiritual
vigour, and have made the same appearance in the Church as those
ministers and Christians who are influenced by the maxims of the
world. The effects of faith are still truly mysterious, though our Lord
has explained them in as intelligible a manner as their nature will per-
mit : " He that abideth in me," by a living faith, " and in whom I abide,"
by the light of my word and by the power of my Spirit, " the same
bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me ye can do nothing. If any
man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a brcuich, and " being " withered,
is cast into the fire and burned. Herem is my Father glorified, that,"
united to me as the branches to the vine, " ye bear much fruit ; so shall
ye be my disciples," John xv, 6, 7, 8.
Penetrated with these great tiiiths, and daily cleaving more firmly to
his living Head, the true minister expresses what the natural man
cannot receive, and what few pastors of the present age are able to
comprehend, though St. Paul not only experienced it in his own heart,
but openly declares it in the following remarkable passage : " I am
crucified with Christ : nevertheless, I live ; yet, not I, but Christ liveth
in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself tor me," Gal, ii, 20,
TRAIT IV.
His extraordinary vocation to the holy ministry, and in what that ministry
chiefly consists.
Evert professor of Christianity is acquainted with the honour which
our Lord conferred upon the Apostle Paul, in not only calluig him to a
participation of the Christian faith, but by appointing him also to pubhah
20 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
the everlasting Gospel. A just sense of this double honour penetrated
the heart of that apostle with the most lively gratitude : "I give thanks,"
saitli he, " to Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry ; who was before a blasphemer, and a per-
secutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it igno-
rantly in unbelief: and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant
in me, with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Howbeit, for this
cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show foith
all long-sufiering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe
on him to everlasting life," 1 Tim. i, 12, 16. The evangehcal ministry,
to which St. Paul was immediately called, is in general the same through
every age enlightened by the Cospel, and consists in publishing the
truth after such a mamier that the wicked may be converted, and the
faithful edified. The commission which this gi-eat apostle received
from Christ contains, essentially, nothing more than the acknowledged
duty of eveiy minister of the Gospel. Leave out the miraculous ap-
pearance of our Lord ; pass over the circumstance of a commission
given in an extraordinary mamicr ; substitute the word sinners for that
of Gentiles, and instead of Jews, read hypocritical professors ; and you
will perceive that, with these immaterial alterations, the commission of
St. Paul is the commission of every faithfiil minister of the Church.
Obsei"ve the tenor of it. In person, or by my ambassadors, in a manner
either extraordinary or orduiary, " I appoint thee a minister, and a wit-
ness of those things which thou hast seen, [or experienced,] and of those
things in the which I will appear to thee ; and I will deliver thee from
the hands of the people, and from the Gentiles," that is, from the hands
of hypocritical professors, and from ignorant simiers, " unto whom I
now send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from the darkness
of error to the light of truth, and from the power of Satan to God," that
is, from sin, which is the image of Satan, to holiness, which is the image
of God, " that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inlieritance
among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me," Acts xxvi,
16-18. Such was the otfice to which St. Paul was appointed, more
especially among the Gentile nations ; and such, without doubt, is the
otfice of every pastor, at least within tlie limits of his particular parish.
As for taking the ecclesiastical habit, reading over some pages of a
liturgy, solemnizing marriages, baptizing mfants, keeping registers, and
receiving stipends, these thmgs are merely accidental ; and every
minister should be able to say, with St. Paul, " Ciirist sent me, not
[principally] to baptize, but to preach the Gospel," 1 Cor. i, 17.
it is evident, from various passages in tlie difiercnt offices of our
Church, that our pious reformers were unanimously of opinion, that
Christ liimself appoints, and, in some sort, inspires all true pastors ; that
he commits the flock to their keeping, and that their principal care is
the same with tliat of the first evangelists, namely, " the conversion of
souls." And truly, the same Lord who ap|)ointed his disciples as
apostles, or ocular witnesses of his resurrecfion, has also appohited
others as pastors, or witnesses of a secondary order, and sufiragans of
the first evangelisls. If the witnesses of a higher order were permitted
to see Christ aficr his resurrection, those of a secondary order have felt
the efiicacy of his resurrection, " being raised together with hun," or
THE PORTRAIT OT ST. PATTL. 21
regenerated through the reception of " a Hvely hope, by the rising again
of Christ from the dead," 1 Pet. i, 3 ; Col. iii, 1. So that every time
minister who bears his testimony to the truths of the Gospel, whether it
be from the pulpit or before tribunals, is supported by liis own particular
experience of Christ's resurrection, as well as by a conviction founded
upon the depositions of the first witnesses. Now this conviction and
this experience are by no means confined to the ministering servants of
God; but the hearts of the faithful, in their several generations, have
been influenced by them both ; if it be true, that they have constantly
stood prepared to seal with their blood these two important truths, Jesus
Christ " died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." Millions
of the laity have been called to give this last proof of tlieir faith, and,
beyond all doubt, it is abundantly more difficult to bear testimony to the
trutii upon a scaffold than from a pulpit.
If St. Paul and tiie other apostles are considered as persons of rank
far superior to ours, they themselves cry out, " O sirs ! we also are men
of like passions with you," Acts xiv, 15. If it be said that God inspired
the apostles with all the wisdom and zeal necessary to fulfil the duties
of their high vocation ; it may be repUed, that our Churches implore for
their established pastors the same wisdom and zeal, grounding such
prayers upon the authority of many plain passages of Holy Sciipture.
" Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or tliink, according to the power that worketh in us, vmto him be
gloiy in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without
end," Eph. iii, 20, 21.
Moreover, it is an error to suppose that the apostles needed no aug-
mentation of that Divine light by which spiritual objects are discerned.
St. Paul, who was favoured with an extraordinary inspiration, and that
sufficient to compose sacred books, in which infallibility is to be found,
writes thus to believers : " Now we see through a glass darkly ; but then
face to face. Now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as also
I am Imown," 1 Cor. xiii, 12. An humble, but happy confession ! which,
on the one hand, will not suffer us to be discouraged when we are most
sensible of our inadequate light ; and teaches us, on the other, how ne-
cessary it is to make incessant appUcation to the " Father of hghts ;"
equally guarding us against the pride of some, who imagine themselves
to have apprehended all the truth ; and the wilful ignorance of others, who
pronounce spiritual knowledge to be altogether unattainable.
Now, if the Apostle Paul could but imperfectly discern the depths of
evangelical truth, and if angels themselves " desire to look into these
thuigs," 1 Pet. i, 12, who can sufficiently wonder at the presumption of
those men, who are so far persuaded of their own infallibility that they
regard all truths which they are unable to fatliom as the mere reveries
of fanaticism ? But, turning our eyes at present from the pernicious error
of these self-exalted Christians, let us consider a subject in which we are
more interested than in the extraordinary vocation of St. Paul to the holy
ministry.
S2 THK POETHAIT (TF ST. TAXTL.
REFLECTIONS
Upon the ordinary vocntian to the holy ministry.
" The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few : pray ye,
therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into
his harvest," Matt, ix, 37, 38. Retaining in memory these remarkable
words of our Lord, the conscientious man is incapable of thrusting him-
self into tlie holy ministry, without being first duly called thereto by the
Lord of the harvest, the great " Shepherd and Bishop of souls."
The minister of the present age is not ordinarily called to the holy
ministry, except by carnal motives, such as his own vanity, or his pecu-
liar taste for a tranquil and indolent life. Perhaps his vocation to the
ministry is principally from his father and mother, who have determined
that their son shall enter into holy orders. Very frequently if the can-
didate for holy orders had sincerity enough to discover the real inclina-
tion of his heart, he might make his submissions to the dignitaries of our
Church, and say, " Put me, I pray you, into one of the priest's offices,
that I may eat a piece of bread," 1 Sam. ii, 36.
It is not thus with the real believer who consecrates himself to the
lioly ministry-. He is not ignorant that " Christ glorified himself to be
made a high priest :" and he is perfectly assured that no man has a
right to take upon himself the sacerdotal dignity " but he that is called
of God," either in an extraordinary manner, as Aaron and St. Paul, or
at least in an ordinary manner, as Apollos and Timothy, Heb. v, 4, 5.
As it is a matter of the utmost importance to understand by what tokens
this ordinary vocation to the holy ministry may be discovered, the fol-
lowing reflections upon so interesting a subject may not be altogether
superfluous : —
If a young man of virtuous mamiers is deeply penetrated with this
humiliating truth, " All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,"
Rom. iii, 23 : if, farther, he is effectually convinced of this consolatoiy
truth, " God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,"
John iii, 16 : if his natural talents have been strengthened by a liberal
education : if the pleasure of doing good is sweeter to him than all the
pleasures of sense : if the hope of" converting sinners ft-om the error of
their way " occupies his mind more agreeably than the idea of acquiring
all the advantages of fortune : if the honour of publishing the Gospel is
superior in his eyes to the honour of becommg the ambassador of an
earthly prince : in short, if by a desire which springs from the fear of
God, the love of Christ, and the concern he takes in the salvation of his
neighboui-, he is led to consecrate himself to tlie holy ministry : if, in the
order of Providence, outward circumstances concur with his own designs;
and if he solicits the grace and assistance of God with greater eagerness
than he seeks the outward vocation from his superiors in tlie Church by
the imposition of hands ; he may then satisfy himself, that the great
High Priest of the Christian profession has set him apart for the high
office to which he aspires.
When, after serious examination, any student in theology discovers
in himself the necessary dispositions mentioned above ; then having
received imposition of hands, with faith and humihty, from the pastors
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. TXVU 28
who preside in the Church, he may soUdly conclude that he has been
favoured with the ordinary vocation. Hence, looking up to the source
of the important office with which he is honoured, he can adopt with
propriety the language of St. Paul : " I thank Jesus Christ our Lord,
for that he hath counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,"
1 Tim. i, 12. "Though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory
of; for necessity is laid upon me, yea, wo is unto mc if I preach not
the Gospel ;" for then I should be found unfaithful to my vocation,
1 Cor. ix, 16. "God was in Christ reconcihng the world uato himself,
and hath committed unto us the Mord of reconciliation. Now then we
are anjbassadors for Christ," 2 Cor. v, 19, 20. And if he becomes
not like that " wicked anrl slothful servant," who refused to administer
to the necessities of his master's household, he will be able, at all times,
to say, " Therefore, seeing we have this minisUy, as Ave have received
mercy, we faint not: but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but
by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's
conscience in the sight of God," 2 Cor. iv, 1, 2.
A pei'son of this description, searching the depths of the human
lieart, of which he has acquired a competent knowledge by the study
of his own, meditciting with attention upon tlie proofs, and with humihty
upon the mysteries of our holy religion, giving himself up to the study
of Divine things, and, above all, to prayer and to good works ; such a
pastor may reasonably hope to gi'ow in grace, and in the knowledge of
that powerful Saviour, whom he earnestly proclaims to others. Nor
is it probable that such a one will labour altogether in vain. Gradually
instructed in the things which concern the kingdom of God, he will
become like the father of a family, bringing forth out of liis treasures
things new and old : and whether he speaks of the old man, the earthly
nature, which he has put off with such extreme pain, or the new man,
the heavenly nature, which he has put on with equal joy, Ephes. iv,
22, 24, he will speak with a conviction so powerful, and a persuasion
so constraining, that the careless must necessarily be alarmed, and the
faithful encouraged.
TRAIT V.
His entire devotion to Jesus Christ.
The true Christian, called to become a disciple of the blessed Jesus,
rather than refuse the offered privilege, renounces his all. If tins
token of devotion to Christ is discernible in the character of every true
Christian, it is still more conspicuous in the character of every true
minister. Such a person inwardly called by the grace of God to a
state of discipleship with Christ, and outwardly consecrated to such a
state by the imposition of hands, gives himself unreservedly up to the
service of his condescending Master. He withstands no longer that
permanent command of our exalted Lord, to which his first disciples
showed so cheerful a submission, " Follow me." Nor is he discouraged,
while Christ continues, " If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow me," Matt, xvi, 24. " No man
24 TrrE portrait of st. tavl.
having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the king-
dom of God," Luke ix, 02. " He that loveth father or mother, son or
daughter, more than me, is not worthy of me." He that findeth his
life shall lose it : and he that loscth liis life for my sake, shall find it,"
Matt. X, 37-39. If there be found any pastor who cannot adopt the
solemn appeal of the first ministers of Christ, " Lo, we have left all,
and followed thee," Luke xviii, 28, that man is in no situation to copy
the example of his forerunners in the Christian Church, and is altogether
unworthy the character he bears ; since without this detachment from
the world, and this devotion to the Son of God, he flatters himself in
vain, that he is either a true minister or a real member of Jesus Christ.
Observe the declaration of one whose attachment to his Divine
Master deserves to be had in everlnsting remembrance : " Those things
which were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him, having
the righteousness which is of God by faith," Phil, iii, 7, 8, 9. " For
none of us," true Christians or true mmisters, " liveth to himself, or
dieth to himself; but whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and
whether we die, we die unto the Lord," Rom. xiv, 7, 8.
Professing to be either a minister or a believer of the Gospel with-
out this entiie devution to Jesus Christ is to live in a state of the most
dangerous h;y'pocrisy : it is neither more nor less than saying. Lord !
Lord ! without having a firm resolution to do what our gi'acious Master
has commanded.
TRAIT VI.
His strength and his arms.
The ministers of the present age are furnished in a manner suitable
lo their design. As they a^e more desirous to please than to convert
their hearers, so they are peculiarly anxious to embellish the inventions
of a seducing imagination. They are continually seeking after the
beauty of metaphors, the brilliancy of antitheses, the delicacy of descrip-
tion the just arrangement of words, the aptness of gesture, the modula-
tions of voice, and every other studied ornament of artificial eloquence.
While the true minister, effectually convinced of the excellence of the
(Tospel, relies alone for the effect of his public ministry upon the force
of truth, and the assistance of his Divine Master.
Observe the manner in which St. Paul expresses himself upon this
subject : " We, having the same spirit of faith according as it is written,
I believed and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore
speak, 2 Cor. iv, 13. And I, brethren, came not with excellency of
speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God : for I
determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and
him crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power :
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God," 1 Cor. ii, 1-5 " For the weapons of our warfare are not
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 25
carnal, but mis^hty, through God, to the puUing down of strong holds :
casting down imaginations, and every high tiling that exaltcth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obechence of Christ," 2 Cor. x, 4, 5.
The true minister, following the example of St. Paul, after having
experienced tlie power of these victorious arms, exhorts every soldier
of Christ to provide himself with the same spiritual weapons. " Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and m the power of his might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand. For
we wrestle not merely against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt
about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your
feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace : above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the
fieiy darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And that you may
perform lieroical service with these arms, " pray always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit," Eph. vi, 10-18.
So long as the faithful minister, or servant of Christ wears and wields
these Scriptural arms, he will be truly invincible. But no man can gird
himself with these invisible weapons, except he " be born of the Spirit ;"
nor can any Christian soldier employ them to good purpose, unless he
be first endued with all that Divine power which flows from the love of
God and man : he must feel, at least, some sparks of that fire of charity
which warmed the bosom of St. Paul, when he cried out, " Whether we
be beside ourselves, it is to God : or whether we be sober, it is for your
cause. Forthe love of Christ and of souls constraineth us," 2 Cor. v, 13,14.
" From the time that the eyes of St. Paul were opened to a perception
of the Gospel," says Mons. Romilly, pastor of a church in Geneva, "we
find him no longer the same person. He is another man, he is a new
creature who thinks no more but on Gospel truths, who hears nothing,
who breathes nothing but the Gospel ; who speaks on no other subject,
who attends to no other thing but the voice of the Gospel ; who desires
all the world to attend with him to the same voice, and wishes to com-
municate his transports to all mankind. From this happy period, neither
the prejudices of flesh and blood, neither respect to man, nor the fear
of death, nor any other consideration is able to withstand him in his
course. He moves on with serenity in a path sown thick with re-
preaches and pain. What has he to fear ? He despises the maxims
of the world, nay, the world itself; its hatred as well as its favour, its
joys as well as its sorrows, its meanness as well as its pomp. Time is
no longer an object with him, nor is his economy regulated by it. He
is superior to every thing ; he is immortal. Though the universe arms
itself against him, though hell opens its abysses, though aflliction assaults
him on every side, he stands unmovable in every storm, looking with
contempt upon death, conscious that he can never die. Superior to all
his enemies, he resists their united attempts with the arms of the Gospel,
opposing, to time and hell, eternity and heaven."
26 THK POETRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
TRAIT VII.
His poiL'er to bind, to hose, and to bless, in the name of the Lord.
The armour of God, described in the preceding article, is common to
all Christians; but the true minister is girded with weapons of a peculieir
temper. As a Christian, liis sword is the word of God in general ; but,
as a minister, it is especially those parts of the Gospel by which he is
invested with authority to preach the word of God, and to perform the
functions of an ambassador of Jesus Christ. " Go," said our blessed
Master to his first disciples, " and preach the Gospel to every creature.
He that believeth my doctrine shall be saved : but he that believeth not
shall be damned," Mark xvi, 15, 16. "All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ;
teaching them to obsei've all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," Matt,
xxviii, 18. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whom-
soever I send, receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him
that sent me," John xiii, 20. " Verily I say imto you, whatsoever ye
ehall bind on earth, shall be boimd in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall
loose on earth," according to the spirit of my Gospel, " shall be loosed
in heaven," Matt, xviii, 18.
Behold from whence the ministers of Christ have authority to absolve
true penitents, and to excommunicate obstinate sinners. An authority
which some have called the power of the clergy ; a power which un-
righteous pastors so much abuse, and which the faithful never presume
to exercise but with the utmost solemnity : a power which, nevertheless,
belongs to them of Divine right, and which can be denied them with no
more reason than they can refuse the sacramental cup to the people.
Such, at least, is the judgment of many excellent and learned divines,
among whom may be reckoned Mons. Ostervald and Mens. Roques.
It may, however, be inquired with propriety in this place. Can eccle-
siastics be justified in still making use of their authority in these respects,
unless they do it with prudence and impartiality ? And would it not
become them to exercise the ecclesiastical discipline, in an especial
manner, upon unworthy pastors, following the maxim of St. Peter, " The
time is come, that judgment must begin at the house of God !" 1 Pet. iv, 17.
Invested with the authority which Christ has confen-ed upon him, the
true minister is prepared to denounce the just judgments of God against
obstinate smners, to console the dejected, and to proclaim the promises
of the Gospel to every sincere believer, with an energy unknown to the
worldly pastor, and with a power which is accompanied by the seal of
the living God. Thus, when such a minister clearly discerns the pro-
found malice of another Elymas, he is permitted to say, with the autho-
rity of an ajnbassador of Jesus Christ, " O full of all subtlety and all
mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord ? Behold ! the
hand of the Lord shall be upon thee," Acts xiii, 10, 11. But the true
minister is careful never to abuse this lawful power. " We can do
nothing," says St. Paul, " against tlie truth, but for the truth ; I writ©
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PATH,. 27
these tilings being absent, lest being present I should use harshness,
according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and
not to destruction," 2 Cor. xiii, 8, 10. The denunciation of vengeance
is to the minister of Christ what the execution of judgment is to the God
of love, his painful and strange work.
The good pastor, conscious that the ministration of mercy exceeds in
gloiy the ministration of condemnation, places his chief glory and plea-
sure in spreading abroad the blessings of the new covenant. He knows
that the promises are yea, and amen, in that beneficent Redeemer, who
gave the following charge to his first missionaries : "Into whatsoever
house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of
peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him : if not, it shall turn to
you again," Luke x, 5, 6. The wishes and prayers of a minister who
acts and spealis in conformity to the intent of this benign charge, really
communicate the peace and benediction of his gracious Master to those
who are meet tor their reception : and, according to the degree of his
faith, he can write to the faithful of distant Churches with the confidence
of St. Paul, — I am persuaded that " when I come unto you, I shall come
in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ," Rom. xv, 29.
^Vhenever he salutes his brethren, his pen or his lips become the chan-
ne\ of those evangeUcal wishes which flow from his heart : " Grace be
unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ," Phil, i, 2. " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love
of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be witli you all," 2 Cor.
xiii, 14. Thus the true minister approves himself a member of the
royal priesthood, a priest of the Most High, " after the order of Mel-
chisedec," who blessed the Patriarch Abraham : or rather, a ministering
servant of the Son of God, who was manifested in the flesh, that " in
him all the families of the earth might be blessed."
Great God ! grant that the whole company of Christian pastors may
be men after thine own heart. Leaving to the ignorant those compli-
ments which a slavish dependence has invented, may thy ministers
perpetually cany about them the love, the gravity, and the apostolic
authority, which belongs to their sacred character. May all the bene-
dictions which thou hast commissioned them to pronounce, cause them
eUII to be received "as angels of God," Gal. iv, 14. Far from being
despised as hypocrites, shunned as troublesome guests, or feared as men
of a covetous and t\Tannical disposition, may that moment always be
esteemed a happy one, in which they enter any man's habitation : and
whenever they make their appearance upon these charitable occasions,
may those who compose the family, each seeking to give the first salute,
cry out, " How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of
peace!" Rom. x, 15.
The power of pronouncing exhortations and blessings is not the ex-
clusive privilege of pastors, but belongs to all experienced believers.
The patriarchs had a right to bless their children ; and Jacob blessed
not only his sons and grandsons, but also the king of Egypt himself. If
the followers of Christ, then, are deprived of this consolatoiy power, the
children of ancient Israel were more highly privileged than the members
of the Christian Church, who are called, nevertheless, to receive more
precious benedictions, and to be, as our Lord expresses it, " the salt of
28 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
the eartli," and " the hght of the world." When St. Paul writes to be-
lievers, " Desire spiritual gifts ; but rather that ye may prophesy : for
he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, to exhortation, and
comfort," 1 Cor. xiv, 1, 3, he doubtless excites them to ask of God that
overflowing charity, and that patriarchal authority, without which it is
impossible for them fully to comply with the following apostolic injunc-
tion, " Bless and curse not, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that
ye should inherit a blessing ;" and without a high degree of which they
cannot sincerely obey those distinguished precepts of our blessed Lord,
" Love your eneniies ; do good to them that hate you ; and pray for them
which despitefuUy use you, and persecute you," Rom. xii, 14; 1 Pet.
iii, 9 ; Matt, v, 44.
TRAIT VIII.
The earnestness with which he began, and continued to fiUttpihe duties of
his vocation.
The true penitent, having renounced liimself for the honour of following
his exalted Lord, stands faithfully in his own vocation, whether it be secu-
lar or ecclesiastic. He is prepared, upon all occasions, to perform the will
of his gracious Master : and if he is commissioned to act as a minister
of Christ, after furnishing himself with " the whole armour of God," he
will expose himself, without fear, to the most threatenmg dangers, that
he may compel sinners to come in to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
" I rejoice," saith St. Paul, " in my sufferings for the body of Christ,
whicli is the Church, whereof I am made a minister, accordmg to the
dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfil the word of
God ; even the mystery, which hath been hid from ages, but which is
now made manifest to his saints ; to whom God would make Imown
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, wliich
is Christ in you, the hope of glory ; whom we preach, warning every
man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus ; whcreunto I also labour, striving accord-
ing to his working which worketh in me mightily. For I would that ye
knew what great conflict I have for you," and for all those among whom
the word of God is preached, " that their hearts might be comforted,
being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of
understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, even of
the Father and of Christ ; in whom are .hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge," Col. i, 24, 29 ; ii, 1, 2, 3.
Such are the great ideas which the Apostle Paul entertained of the
ministry he had received ; and observe the assiduity with which he dis-
charged the duties of so important an office : " Ye know," says he,
speaking to the pastoi"s, to whom he committed the care of one of his
flocks, " from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I
have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all huiuility of
mind, and with many tears and temptafions : and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have
taught you publicl)', and from house to house, testifying both to the
Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward
THB PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 29
our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore Ftake you to record this day that
1 am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare
imto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves ;
for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves," unfaith-
ful pastors, " enter in among you, not sparing the (lock. Therefore,
watch ; and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to
warn every one night and day with tears," Acts xx, 18, 31. In every
place he discharged the obligations ot" a minister with the same applica-
tion and zeal, travelling from city to city, and from church to church,
bearing testimony to " the redemj)tion that is in Jesus," and declaring
the gi'eat truths of the Gospel. When the sjiiagogues were shut against
him, he preached in the schools of philosophers, upon the sea shore, on
shipboard, and even in prisons ; and while he dwelt a prisoner in his
own house at Rome, " he received all that came in unto him, to whom he
expoimded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concern-
ing Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from
morning till evening," Acts xxviii, 23.
Thus the Son of God himself once publicly laboured for the conver-
sion of sinners, sometimes going through all " Galilee, teaching hi their
synagogues, and preaching the Gospel," Matt, vi, 81. And at other
times instructing the multitudes, who either followed him into the fields,
or resorted to the house where he lodged ; " for there were many com-
ing and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat," Mark vi, 31.
And when, through the pleasure of bringing the Samaritans acquainted
with spiiitual tnith, he disregarded the necessities of nature, his disci-
ples requesting him to partake of the food they had prepared, received
from him this memorable answer : " I have meat to eat that ye know
not of: my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work," viz. the glorious work of enlightening and saving of sinners,
John iv, 31, 34.
Thus St. Paul was diligently and daily occupied in fulfilling the duties
of his apostolic vocation; and thus every minister of the Gospel is called
to labour in his appointed sphere. It remains to be known, whether all
who do not labour, according to their ability, arc not condenmed by the
following general nile : " If any will not work, neither should he eat,"
2 Thess. iii, 10. For these words signify, applied to the present case,
that they who will not labour as pastors, should by no means be permit-
ted to eat the bread of pastors ; an evangelical precept this, which
deserves the strictest attention, as the bread of pastors is, in some sort,
sacred bread, since it is that which the piety of the public has set apart for
the support of those who have abandoned eveiy worldly pursuit, that they
might dedicate themselves freely and Hilly to the service of the Church.
TRAIT IX.
The manner in which he dicidfid his time between prayer, pi-eaching, and
thanksgiving.
The minister of the present age is but seldom engaged in publishing
to his people the truths of the Gos[)cl ; and still more rarely in suppli-
cating for them the pcfesession of those blessings which the Gospel pro-
30 THE rORTJtAlT Vt bl. fAUIi.
poses. It is chiefly before men that he hfts up his hands, and afTects
to pour out a prayer from the fulness of his heart ; while the true minis-
ter divides his time between the two important and refreshing occupa-
tions of preaching and prayer ; by the former, making a public offer of
Divine grace to his hearers, and by the latter, soliciting for them in
secret the experience of that grace. Such was the manner of the
blessed Jesus himself, who, after having reproved his disciples for the
low degree of their faith, retired either into gardens, or upon mountains,
praying that their " faith might not fail." The good pastor, who con-
stantly imitates the example of his Divine Meister, is prepared to adopt
the following language of St. Paul, in addressing the flock upon which
he is immediately appointed to attend : " For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be filled with all the fulness of God,"
Eph. iii, 14, 19. "And this I pray, that your love may abound more
and more in knowledge, and in all judgment ; that ye may approve
things that are excellent ; that ye may be sincere and without offence
till the day of Christ ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are, by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God," Phil,
i, 9, 11. By prayers, like these, the Apostle Paul was accustomed
to water, without ceasing, the heavenly seed which he had so widely
scattered through the vineyard of his Lord, manifesting an increas-
ing attachment to those among whom he had at any time published
the tidings of salvation, and breathing out, in all his epistles to distant
Churches, the most earnest desire that God would "fulfil" in them
"all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with
power ; that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in
them, and they in him," 2 Thess. i, 11, 12.
1 Pastors who pray thus for their flocks, pray not in vain. Their fer-
vent petitions are heard ; sinners are converted, the faithfiil are edified,
and thanksgiving is shortly joined to suppUcation. Thus the same
apostle : " I thank my God always on your behalf tor the grace of God
which is given you by Jesus Christ : that in every thing ye are enriched
by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge. So that ye come behind
in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. i,
4, 7. " Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love
unto all the saints, I cease not to give thanks for you," Eph. i, 15, 16.
Worldly ministers, have no experience of the holy joy that accompa-
nies these secret sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. But this can by
no means be considered as matter of astonishment. Is their attachment
to Christ as sincere as that of his faithful ministers ? Are they as solicit,
ous for the salvation of their hearers ? Do they teach and preach with
equal zeal ? Do they pray with the same ardour and perseverance ?
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. FAUX/. 31
TRAIT X.
Thejiddity with which he announced the severe threatenings and ccmsda-
tory promises of the Gospel.
The worldly minister has neither the courage nor the tenderness of
the true pastor. He is fearful of publishing those ti'uths which are calcu-
lated to alarm the careless sinner ; and he knows not in what manner
to apply the promises of the Gospel for the i-ehef of those who mourn.
If ever he attempts to descant upon the consolatory truths of the Gospel,
he only labours to explain what is nearly unintelligible to himself; and
all his discourses on subjects of this nature are void of that earnest per-
suasion, and that unction of love which characterize the ministers of
Christ. On the other hand, his dread of giving offence will not suffer
him to address sinners of every rank with the holy boldness of the Pro-
phet Samuel : " If ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel
against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord
be against you. If ye still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed,"
1 Sam. xii, 15, 25. The faithful pastor, on the contraiy, conscious that
the harshest truths of the Gospel are as necessary as they are offensive,
courageously insists upon them, in the manner of St. Paul, " Thinkest
thou, O man, that doest such things, that thou shalt escape the judgment
of God ?" Know this, that " after thy hardness and impenitent heart
thou treasurest up unto thyself ^v•l•ath against the day of wrath, and revela-
tion of the righteous judgment of God :" for " indignation and wrath,
tribulation and aiigiiish shall be upon every soul of man that doeth evil,"
Rom. ii, 3, 5, 9. " If eveiy transgression," under the lirst covenant,
" received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation, which at the tirst begun to be spoken by the
Lord, and was contirmed unto us by them that heard him 1" Heb. ii, 2, 3.
" This ye know, that no unclean person, nor covetous man, hath any
inheritance in the kmgdom of Christ and of God : let no man deceive
you with vain words ; tor because of these things cometh the wrath of
God upon the children of disobedience," Eph. v, 5, 6. " See that ye
refuse not him that speaketh ; for if they escaped not, who refused him
that spake on earth," \iz. the Prophet Moses ; " much more shall not
we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven," viz.
the Saviour Jesus Christ. " Wherefore let us serve God acceptably,
with reverence and godly fear : for our God is a consuming fire," Heb,
xii, 25, 29.
But though the tme minister courageously announces the most severe
declarations of the word to the unbelieving and the impenitent ; yet he is
never so truly happy, as when he invites the poor in spirit to draw forth
the riches of grace from the treasury of God's everlasting love. " God
hath not," saitli St. Paul, " appointed us to wrath ; but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thess. v, 9. " This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners," 1 Tim. i, 15. " Ye are not come unto the mount that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. But ye are come unto
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, and to Jesus the Media-
tor of the new covenant, and to tiie blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
32 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
better things than that of Abel. Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and having a High Priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assur-
ance of faith," Heb. xii, 18, 24; x, 19, 22. "If, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. He that spared not his
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things ? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God'a
elect ? It is God that justifieth : who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ
that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us," Rom. v, 10 ; viii, 32, 34,
When these exhilarating declarations are found insufficient " to revive
the heart of the contrite," the evangelical preacher fails not to multiply
them in the most sympathizing and affectionate manner. " I say unto
you," continues he, " all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men : for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," Matt, xii,
31 ; 1 John i, 7. "And by him all, who believe, are justified from all
things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses," Acts
xiii, 39. " There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii, 1 : " for where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound," Rom. v, 20.
Such are the cordials which the faithful evangelist administers to those
who are weaiy and heavy laden : precious cordials which the worldly
pastor can never effectually apply ; which he either employs out of sea-
son, or renders useless by such additions of his own, as are contrary to
the spirit of the Gospel.
TRAIT XI.
His profound humilUy.
There is no evil disposition of the heart, with which the clergy are so
frequently reproached, as pride. And it is with reason that we oppose
this sinful temper, especially when it appears in pastors, since it is so
entirely contrary to tho. spirit of the Gospel, that the Apostle Paul
emphatically terms it, "The condemnation of the devil," 1 Tim. iii, 6.
There is no amiable disposition which our Lord more strongly recom-
mended to his followers, than lowliness of mind. From his birth to his
death, he gave himself a striking example of the most profound humility,
joined to the most ardent charity. After having washed the feet of his
first disciples, that is, after he had taken the place of a slave at their feet,
he addressed them as follows : — " Know ye what I have done unto you ?
Ye call me Master and Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am. If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet ; ye also otight to wash
one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should
do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is
not greater than his Lord ; neither he that is sent, greater than he that
sent him," John xiii, 12-16. Again he says to the same effect, " Vo
know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and
they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so
among you : but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your
THE POKTKAIT OF SI'. PAUL. 33
minister : and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your
servant : even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister," Mark x, 42 ; ii, 45.
Real Christianity is the school of himible charity, in which every true
minister can say, with Christ, according to his growth in grace, " Learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your
souls." And unhappy will it be for those who, reversing Christianity,
say, by their example, wliich is more striking than all their discourses,
" Learn of us to be fierce and revengeful, at the expense of peace both at
home and abroad." They who receive the stipends of ministers, while they
are thus endeavouring to subvert the religion they profess to support, ren-
der themselves guilty, not only of hypocrisy, but of a species of sacrilege.
It is supposed that St. Peter had the pre-eminence among the apostles,
at least by his age : it is certain that he spake in the name of the other
apostles, that he first confessed Christ in two public orations ; that our
Lord conferred particular favours upon him ; that he was permitted to be
one of the three witnesses of his Master's transfiguration and agony ; and
that on the day of pentecost he proved the po\\'er of his apostolic com-
mission, by introducing three thousand souls at once into the kingdom of
Christ. Far, however, from arrogating, upon these accounts, a spiritual
supremacy over his brethren, he assumed no other title but that which
was given in common to all his fellow labourers in the ministiy : " The
elders which are among you," says he, " I exhort, who am also an elder :
feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
not for filthy luci'e, but of a ready mind : neither as being loi'ds over
God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock," 1 Peter v, 1, 3. A
piece of advice this, which is too much neglected by those prelates who
distinguish themselves tVom their brethren, yet more by an anti-christian
pride, than by those ecclesiastical dignities to which they have made
their way by the intrigues of ambition. <
All pastors should seek after humility with so much the greater con-
cern, since some among them, seduced with the desire of distinguishing
themselves as persons of eminence in the Church, after making certain
ecclesiastical laws contrary to the word of God, have become persecutors
of those who refused submission to their t)Tannical authority. Observe
here the injustice of some modern philosophers, who, misrcpresenfing
the Christian religion, a religion which breathes nothing but humility and
love, set it forth as the cause of all the divisions, persecutions, and mas-
sacres, which have ever been fomented or perpetrated by its corrupt
professors. Disasters, wliich, far from being the produce of real Chris-
tianity, have their principal source in the vices of a supercilious, uncha-
ritable, and anti-christian clerg)'.
The Church will always be exposed to these imputations, till every
ecclesiastic shall imitate St. Paul, as he imitated Christ. That apostle,
ever anxious to tread in the stej)s of his Divine Master, was peculiarly
distinguished by his humility to God and man. Ever ready to confess
his own native pcjverty, and to magnify the riches of his grace, he cries
out, " Who is sufficient for these things ?" Who is properly qualified to
discharge all the functions of the holy ministry? " Such trust have we in
Christ to Godward : not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any
thing as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made
Vol. IIL 3
34 THE POBTKAIT OF ST. PAUX.
US able ministers of the New Testament : not of the letter, but of the
Spirit ; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life," 2 Cor. ii, 16 ; iii,
4, 6. " Who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye
believed, even as the Lord gave to every man ? I have planted, Apollos
watered ; but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
any thing, neither he that watereth : but God that giveth the increase,"
1 Cor. iii, 5, 7. " I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be
called an apostle : but by the grace of God I am what I am," 1 Cor. xv, 9.
" God hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ : but we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may baof God, and not
of us," 2 Cor. iv, 6, 7.
If the humility of St. Paul is strikingly evident in these remarkable
passages, it is still more strongly expressed in those that follow : — " Ye
see, bretliren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to con-
found the things wliich are mighty ; and base things of the world, and
things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are
not, to bring to nought thuigs that are : that no flesh should glory in his
presence," 1 Cor. i, 26, 29. " Unto me who am less than the least of
all saints, who am nothing, who am the chief of sirmers, is this grace
given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ," Eph. iii, 2 ;
2 Cor. xii; 1 Tim. i, 15.
Reader, if thou hast that opinion of thyself, which is expressed in the
foregoing passages, thou art an humble Christian. Thou canst truly
profess thyself the servant of all those who salute thee ; thou art such
already by thy charitable intentions, and art seeking occasions of demon-
strating, by actual services, that thy tongue is the organ, not of an insi-
dious politeness, but of a sincere heart. Like a true disciple of Christ,
who concealed hmisclf when the multitude would have raised him to a
throne, and who presented himself, when they came to drag him to his
cross, thou hast a sacred pleasure in humbling thyself before God and
man, and art cuixious, without hypocrisy or affectation, to take the lowest
place among thy brethren.
The humble Christian, convinced of his wants and his weakness, feels
it impossible to act like those proud and bashful poor, who will rather
perish in their distress, than solicit the assistance of their brethren. St.
Paul had nothing of this false modesty about him. Penetrated with a
deep sense of his unworthiness and insufficiency, after imploring for him-
self the gracious assistance of God, he thus humbly solicits the prayers of
all the faithful : — " Brethren, pray for us," 1 Thess. v, 25. " I beseech
you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive together in your prayers for me," Rom. xv, 30.
" Pray always for all saints ; and for me, that utterance may be given
me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of
the Gospel, Ibr which I am an ambassador in bonds : that therein I may
speak boldly as I ought to speak," Eph. vi, 18, 19. "You also [con-
tinning] to help by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by
tlie means of many persons, thaulis may be given by many on our
Ijehalf," 2 Cor. i, U.
THE rORTKAlT OF ST. PAIL. 35
Thus humility, or poverty of spirit, which is set forth by Christ as the
first beatitude, leads us, by prayer, to all the benedictions of the Gospel,
and to that lively gratitude which gives birth to thanksgiving and joy.
Lovely humility ! penetrate the hearts of all Christians, animate every
pastor, give peace to the Church, and happiness to the universe.
TRAIT XII.
Tlie ingenuous manner in lohich he acknowledged and repaired his errors.
It is difficult for a proud man to confess himself in an error : but they
who are possessed of humility and love can make such an acknowledg-
ment with cheerfulness. When St. Paul was called upon to justify his
conduct before the tribunal of the Jews, the same spirit of resentment
which animated his persecutors suddenly seized upon the more passion-
ate of his judges, when the higli priest, still more exasperated than the
rest, commanded them who stood near Paul " to smite him on the mouth."
It was in that moment of surprise and indignation that the apostle, unac-
quainted with the author of so indecent a proceeding, and not imagining
that the president of an august assembly could so far forget his own dig-
nity as to act with so reprehensible an impetuosity, gave this sharp reply
to so unjust an order : " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall ; for sit-
test thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten
contrary to the law ?" Inunediately those who stood by, reproaching him
with his apparent disrespectful carriage, inquired with the utmost indig-
nation, " Revilest thou God's high priest ?" Here the apostle, far from
justifying his own conduct in resenting the severity of a judge who had
degraded himself by an act of the most flagrant injustice, immediately
acknowledged his error: and lest the example he had given should
encourage any person to withhold the respect due to a magistrate, still
more respectable by his ofBce than blamable by his rigorous proceed-
ings, he endeavoured to make instant reparation for his involuntary
oflence, by citing a penitent passage from the law, answering with all
meekness : " I wist not, brethren, (hat he was the high priest : for it is
written, Thou shalt not spcali evil of the ruler of thy people," Acts
xxiii, 2, 5.
There is another instance of the indiscretion and candour of this apos-
tle. Paul and Barnabas going forth to publish the Gospel, took for their
companion John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. The young evangelist,
however, staggered by the dangers which those apostles were constantly
obliged to encounter, forsook them at Pamphilia in the midst of their
pait»ful labours. But afterward, repenting of his former irresolution, he
offered to accompany them in another jouriicy. Bamabas, who had
charity enough to hope all things of his nephew, wished to aflbrd him
a second trial : while Paul, whose prudence tauglit liim to fear every
thing from a young man who had already given an mdisputable prooi' of
his inconstancy, refused his consent. At length the two apostles, unable
to decide the matter to their mutual satisfaction, took the resolution of
separating one from another. Paul went to preach the Gos[>cl in Syria
with Silas ; while Barnabas, accompanied by his nephew, proceeded to
proclaim Cinist in the isle of Cyprus. Thus the separation of true
36 THE rORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
Christians, without producing any schism in the Church, frequently tends
to the propagation of the Gospel.
Time alone could determine whether Barnabas was deceived by an
abundance of clmrity, or St. Paul through an excess of pitdence. The
event turned the balance in favour of the judgment of Barnabas ; the
conduct of John Mark on this second mission was irreproachable. From
that time, St. Paul, with his usual candour, forgetting the former instability
of Mark, placed the utmost confidence in him, received him with joy as
the companion of his labours, revoked the order he had formerly given
respecting him, and recommended him to the Churches as a faithful
minister. Thus much may be inferred from the following passage in
his epistle to the Colossians : " Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth
you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom ye received
commandments; if he come unto you, receive him," Col. iv, 10.
Thus the sincere followers of Christ are ever anxious to repair their
involuntary faults : faults which we, as well as the apostles, are always
exposed to the commission of, and which should constrain us to say,
with St. Paul, " Now we know" things and persons " in part." This
imperfection in our knowledge will sometimes produce errors in our
judgment, and those errors may probably influence our conduct. But,
if in these failings there be no mixture of malice ; if we sin through igno-
rance, and in the integrity of our hearts, God imputes not to us those
errors; provided that we are always prepared, like St. Paul, to confess
and repair them. To err is the lot of humanity : obstinacy in error is the
character of a demon : but humbly to acknowledge, and anxiously to
repair an error, is to exhibit a virtue more rare and valuable than inno-
cence itself, when accompanied with any degree of conceit and pride.
They who give the portraits of legendary saints generally paint them
■svithout a single failing. But they who wish faithfully to imitate the
sacred authors, are obliged to employ shades as well as lights, even in
their most celebrated pieces. If this part of the portrait of St. Paul
should not appear brilliant, it will serve, at least, to manifest the reality
of the original, the liberality of the apostle, and the fidelity of the painter.
TRAIT XIII.
His detestation of pariy spirit and divisions.
WmiiE the spirit of the world is confessedly a spirit of particular inte-
rest, pride, and division, the spirit of true religion is manifested, among
its sincere professors, as a spirit of concord, humility, and brotherly love.
The true minister, animated in an especial manner by this Divine spirit,
losing sight of his own reputation and honour, is unweariedly engaged
in seeking the glory of God, and the edification of his neighbour. Per-
fectly satisfied with the loAvost place, and distuiguished as much by con-
descension to his brethren, as by respect to his superiors, he is ever on
his guard against that spirit of party which is continually seeking to dis-
turb the union uf the Church, whether it be by too great a fondness for
particular customs, by an obstinate zeal for any system of doctrines, or
by too passionate an attachment to some eminent teacher.
Without persecuting those who are led by so dangerous a spirit, the
TlIE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 37
good pastor employs every effort to reunite them under the great Head
of the Churcli. Arguing against the folly of those who are ready to
separate themselves from the company of their brethren, he takes up the
language of St. Paul, and says, "O foolish Christians, who hath bewitch-
ed you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Chiiat
hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you ? Are ye so foolish ?
Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
Gal. iii, 1, 3. " Ye have," indeed, " been called unto liberty : only use
not liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this : thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, taJce heed
that ye be not consumed one of another. Now the works of the flesh
are manifest, among which are these, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, and heresies : of the which I tell you before, as I have
also told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suflering, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance. If we live in
the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain gloiy,
provoking one another," Gal. v, 13, 26. " There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all. Endeavour, tlierefore, to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace," Eph. iv, 3, 6.
When the people seek to honour a true minister by placing him at
the head of any party in the Church, he refuses the proffered dignity
with an humble and holy indignation. His soul is constantly penetrated
with those sentiments, under the influence of which the Apostle Paul
thus nobly expressed himself: " I seek not my own profit, but the profit
of many, that they may be saved," 1 Cor. x, 33. " I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind. For it hath been declared
unto me that there are contentions among you : and that every one of
you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of
Christ. But is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you ? Or were
you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Cor. i, 10, 13. "Who is Paul,
but a minister by whom ye believed? Theretbre, let no man glory in
men, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," 1 Cor. iii, 5, 21, 22 ; but
rather in " our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named," Eph. iii, 14, 15.
By such exhortations it is, and by maintaining at the same time a con-
duct conformable to the nature of such exhortations, that every faithful
minister endeavours to engage Christians of all denominations to walk
together " in love, as Christ also walked," Eph. v, 2. " Proving what is
acceptable unto the Lord," v, 10, " and submitting one to another in the
fear of God," v, 21, till the arrival of that promised period, when the
whole company of the faithful shall be of one heart and of one mind.
But after all these exertions for the extirpation of a sectarian spirit
t'rom the Church, they who content themselves with the exterior of
Christianity, as the Pharisees were contented with the ceremonies of
the Mosaic worship, will, sooner or later, accu.se every evangelical pas.
38 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
tor of attempting to form a particular sect. When modem Pharisees
obsei-ve the strict union which reigns among true beUevers, a union
which every faithful minister labours to establish among his people, as
well by example as by precppt ; when they behold penitent sitmers
deeply sensible of their guilt, and frequently assembling together for the
purpose of imploring the blessings of " wisdom, righteousness, sanctifi-
cation, and redemption," they immediately take the alann, and ciy out,
"These men do exceedingly trouble our city, teaching customs which
are not lawful for us to receive," and maintaining such a conduct as is
most inconvenient for us to follow, Acts xvi, 20, 21.
Happy are those cities in which the minister of Christ is able to dis-
cover a Nicodemus, a Gamaliel, or some worshippers possessed of as
much candour as the Jews of Rome, who desired to hear what the per-
secuted Paul had to offer in behalf of that newly -risen sect, which was
" every where spoken against," Acts xxvii, 22. Till this amiable can-
dour shall universally prevail among the nominal members of the Church,
true Christianity, even in the centre of Christendom, will always find
perverse conti-adiction, and sometimes cruel persecution.
TT^ATT XIV.
His rejection of praise.
The minister of the present day labours chiefly with a view to his own
advantage and honour. He endeavours to please that he may be ad-
mired of men. " He loves the chief seats in synagogues," public greet-
ings, and honourable titles. Matt, xxiii, 6, 7, thus tacitly challenging, by
his unreasonable pretensions to the respect and homage of men, a part
of that gloiy which is due to God alone.
A totally different character is maintauied by the true minister. His
discourses, his actions, his look, his deportment, all agree to say, " Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give gloiy, for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake," Psalm cxv, 1. If the arm of the Omnipotent
enables him to perform any extraordinary work, which the multitude do
not immediately refer to the " Author of eveiy good and perfect gift,"
he cries out with St. Peter, " Why look ye so earnestly on us, as thougli
by our own power or holiness" we had jierformed what appears to excite
your astonishment ? " The God of our fathers hath," upon this occasion,
" glorified his Son Jesus ; and the faith, which is by him," hath effected
this extraordinary work in the presence of you all. Acts iii, 12, 13, 16.
On all occasions he can say with the great apostle, " Do I seek to please
men? If I yet pleased men," unless tor their edification, "I should not
be the servant of Christ," Gal. i, 10. " With me it is a very small thing,
tliat I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment," 1 Cor. iv, 3.
" But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even
.so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tricth our hearts. Nei-
ther at any time used we flattering words, as ye know ; nor of men
sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others," 1 Tliess. ii, 4, 6.
By such a conduct he distinguishes himself as a fahhful ambassador of
the blessed Jesus, who expressed himself in the following lowly terms to
those who had reproached him with a spirit of self-exaltation : " I do
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PATJL. 39
ROthing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
I seek not my own gloiy : there is one that seekcth and judgelh. If I
lionour myself, my honour is nothing. It is my Father that hoiioureth
me ; of whom ye say that he is your G,od," John viii, 28, 50, 54.
There may be peculiar cases in which a ministering servant of God
may be allowed to call upon Christians for a public testimony of their
approbation ; and when this is refused, he is justified in modestly calling
their attention to every past proof of bis integrity and zeal. Thus St.
Paul, as a proper mean of maintaining bis authority among the Corinth-
ians, who had manifested an unjust partiality toward teachers of a very
inferior order, entered into a long detail of those revelations and labours,
which gave him a more than ordinary claim to the respect of every
Church. But whenever he commended himself, he did it with the utmost
reluctance, as one constrained by the peculiarity of his circumstances to
act in immediate contrariety to his real disposition. Hence, whenever
he recounts the particular favours with which God had honoured him,
he speaks in the third person, as of another man : " Of such a one will
I glory ; yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities," 2 Cor.
xii, 5. " For we dare not make ourselves of the number of those who
commend themselves, measuring themselves by themselves," without
any reference to the excellent graces and endowments of others. " But
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commcndeth
himself is approved, but whom the Lord commcndeth," 2 Cor. x, 12, 18.
Nothing aftbrds greater satisfaction to false apostles than commenda-
tion and praise ; while the ti'ue mmister shrinks with horror from those
very honours which they assume all the forms of Proteus to obtain.
When the multitude, led by their admiration of a faithiul preacher, follow
him with unsuitable expressions of applause, he meets them with un-
feigned indignation, arrests their impious plaudits, and rejects their idol-
atrous adulations, crying out with St. Paul, " Sirs ! why do ye these
things ? we also are men of like passions with you ; and preach unto
you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God," Acts
xiv, 13, 15. We are neither the way, the truth, nor the life : but we
point to you that way which the truth has discovered, and through which
eternal life may be obtained, entreating you to walk therein with all
simplicity and meekness. And remember, that instead of affecting in
our discourses that vain wisdom, which the world so passionately ad-
mires, we faithfully proclaim Christ : and, to humble us the more before
God and man, " we preach Christ crucified," 1 Cor. i, 23.
By this humble carriage the ministering disciples of Christ are prin-
cipally known. By this they copy the amiable example of John the
Baptist, who cheerfully humbled himself that Christ might bo exalted,
ciying out in the language of that self-renouncing teaclicr, " Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! There standeth
one among you whom ye know not, whose shoes' latchet we are not
worthy to unloose. We baptize with water ; but he baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost." Beware then of entertaining too high an idea of our
ministiy ; and remember, that " He must increase" in your estimation,
" but we must decrease," John i, 26, 33 ; iii, 30.
After beholding John the Baptist, who was accounted greater than
any of the prophets, abasing himself iu the presence of Christ ; and
40 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
after hearing St. Paul, who was far superior to tlie Baptist, exclaiming
in the humility of his soul, " I live not ; but Christ liveth in me," how
can we sufficiently express our astonishment at the conduct of those
titular apostles, who either set up a vain philosophy in the place of
Christ, or employ the cross of their Lord as a kind of pedestal for the
support of those splendid monuments, by which their pride is endea-
vouring to perpetuate the memoiy of their eloquence. Self-conceited
orators ! When shall we rank you with the faithful ministers of the
humble Jesus ? When shall we behold the character you have assumed,
and the conduct you maintain, sweetly harmonizing with each other?
When shall we hear you addressing your flocks with the unaffected
simplicity and condescension of the great apostle : " We preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; and," far from elevating ourselves
above you, on account of the commission we have received, " ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake," 2 Cor. iv, 5. Then we might with pro-
priety salute you as humble imitators of St. Paul, as zealous ministers
of the Gospel, and as faithful servants of that condescending Sa\iour,
who " came not to be ministered unto, but to minister," Matt, xx, 28. .
TRAIT XV.
His universal love.
True Christians are distinguished from Jews, Mohammedans, and
all other worshippers, by that spirit of universal love, which is the chief
ornament and glory of their profession. But among evangelical pastors
this holy disposition ap])ears in a more eminent degree. Tliey feel for
the inconsiderate and the sinful that tender compassion of which Christ
has left us an example. Their conduct answers to that beautiful de-
scription of charity with which Paul presented the Corinthian Church,
and which may be considered as an emblematical representation of his
own character from the time of his conversion to the Christian faith.
Universal love is that invigorating sap, which, passing from the true vine
into its several branches, renders them fruitful in ever\- good work.
But this Divine principle circulates through chosen ministers with pe-
culiar force, and in more than ordinary abundance, as so many principal
boughs, by which a communication is opened between the root and the
lesser branches.
The faithful pastor entertains an affecting remembrance of those
benevolent expressions which the good Shepherd addressed to the
Apostle Peter, and in the person of that apostle to all his successors in
the ministry, repeating them even to the third time : " Lovest thou me ?
Feed my sheep." As though he had said. The greatest proof you can
possibly give of your unfeigned attachment to me, is, to cherish the
souls which I have redeemed, and to make them the objects of your
tenderest regard. Such is the affectionate precept which eveiy faithful
minister has received together with his sacred commission, and to which
he yields a more ready and cheerful obedience, from a firm dependence
upon the following solemn declaration of his gracious Master : " When
the Son of man shall come in his glory, he shall say" to all the chil-
dren of love, " Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done good
THE PORTRAIT OF 8T. PAI'L. 41
unto one of the least of these my brethren," whether their wants were
corporal or spiritual, "je have done it unto me," Matt, xxv, 31, 40.
Tlie love of the evangelical pastor, like that of St. Paul, is unbounded.
" God," saith that charitable apostle, " will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth : 1 exhort, therefore, that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made tor
all men : for this is good and acceptable iu the sight of God our Saviour,"
1 Tim. ii, 4. But not content with submitting to the exhortation of St.
Paul, with respect to the duty of universal prayer, he endeavours to
copy the example of that apostle in labouring for the salvation of all
men : " I am made all tilings to all men, that I might by all means save
some," 1 Cor. ix, 22. Being by regeneration " a partaker of the Divine
nature," 2 Pet. i, 4, he bears a lovely, though imperfect resemblance
to his heavenly Parent, w hose chief perfection is love. Like the High
Priest of his profession, he breathes nothing but charity ; and like the
Father of lights, he makes the sun of his beneficence to rise upon all
men. To describe this lesser sun in its unUmited course, and to point
out the admirable variety with which it distributes its light and its heat,
is to delineate with precision the character of a faithful pastor.
TRAIT XVI.
His particular love to the faithful.
The universal love of the true minister manifests itself in a particular
manner, according to the different situations of those who are the ob-
jects of it. When he finds the whole conduct of professing Christians
conformable to the nature of their sacred profession, " he loves them
with a pure heart fervently," 1 Pet. i, 22, and giving way to the efllisions
of holy joy, he expresses his affection in words like these : " Brethren,
we are comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith : for now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord." And "what thanks
can we render to God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your
sakes before God," 1 Thess. iii, 7, 9. In these expressions of St, Paul
an astonishing degree of affection is discovered. " Now we live ;" as
though he had said, We have a two-fold life, the p-incipal life which
we receive immediately from Christ, and an accessory life, which we
derive from his members through the medium of brotherly love. And
so deeply are we interested in the concerns of our brethren, that we are
sensibly affected by the variations they experience in their spiritual
state, through the power of that Christian sympathy which we are unable
to describe. Thus when sin has detached any of our brethren Irom
Christ, and separated them from the body of the faithliil, we are pene-
trated with the most sincere distress : and, on the contrary, whenever
they become more afffjctionately connected with us, and more intimately
united to Christ our common head, our spirits are then sensibly refreshed
and invigoi'atod \\ith new degrees of life and joy.
Reader, dost thou understand this language ? Hast thou felt the power
of this Christian sympathy ? Or has thy faith never yet produced these
genuine sentiments of brotherly love ? Then thou hast spoken as a per-
son equally destitute of sensibility and truth, whenever thou hast dared
to say, " I believe in the communion of saints."
42 THE PORTHATT OF ST. PAUL-
TRAIT XVII.
His love to those whose faith was wavering.
When a minister, after liaving been made instrumental in the con-
version oi" sinners, perceives their faith decreasing, and their love grow-
ing cold, he feels for them what the Redeemer felt when he wept over
Jerusalem. Not less concerned for the remissness of his believing
liearers, than St. Paul was distressed by the instability of his Galatian
and Corinthian converts, he pleads with tliem in the same affectionate
terms : " Ye know," ye who are the seals of my ministry, " how I
preached the Gospel unto you at the first. And ye despised me not,
but received me as an angel of God. Where is then the blessedness
ye spake of? For I bear you record, that if it had been possible, ye
would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me.
Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth ? My
little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed
in you," I tell you with sorrow, that after all my confidence in you, " I
stand in doubt of you," Gal. iv, 13-20. " Our mouth is open unto you,
our heart is enlarged. Ye arc not straitened in us, but ye are straitened
in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as
unto my children) be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ?
Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and will
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty. We beseech you, therefore, brethren, that ye receive
not the grace of God in vain," 2 Cor. vi, 1, 11-18.
Tliis language of the Christian pastor is almost unintelligible to the
minister who is merely of man's appointing. Having never converted
a single soul to Christ, he has neither spiritual son nor daughter, and is
entirely unacquainted with that painful travail which is mentioned by
St. Paul. His bowels are straitened toward Chiist and his members,
and having closely united himself to the men of the world, he considers
the assembly of the faithful as a company of ignorant enthusiasts. But,
notwithstanding the spiritual insensibility of these ill-instructed teachers,
who never studied in the school of Christ, there is no other token by
which either sincere Christians or true ministers can be discerned, ex-
cept that fervent love which the Galatians entertained for St. Paul before
their falling away, and which that apostle ever continued to entertain
for them. "By this," saith our Lord, "shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye have love one to another," John xiii, 35.
TRAIT XVIII.
His love to his countrymen and his enemies.
St. Paul, like his rejected Master, was persecuted even to death by
the Jews, bis countrymen, while he generously exposed himself to
innumerable hardships in labouring for their good. These furious devo-
tees- inspired witli envy, revenge, and a persecuting zeal, huuled this
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAtlL. 43
apostle from place to place, as a public pest. And when the Gentiles,
on a certain occasion, had rescued him out of their hands, forty of the
most hardened among them engaged themselves by an oath, neither to
eat nor drink till they had assassinated liim. But, notwithstanding the
most indubitable proofs of their bloody disposition toward him, his fervent
charity threw a veil over their cruelty, and made him wish to die for
his persecutors. " I declare," saith he, " the truth in Christ, my con-
science also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, tliat I have great
heavineSvS and continual sorrow in my heart : for I could wish that my.
self were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh," Rom. ix, 1-3. As though he should say, " It is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," Gal. iii, 13. Thus Christ
himself became accursed for us, and I also would lay down my lite for
my brethren, " that I may have fellowsliip with him in his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death," Phil, iii, 10 ; " and tilling up
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, in my flesh, for his
body's sake, which is the Church," Col. i, 24. It is by expressions
so charitable, and by actions which demonstrate the sincerity of those
expressions, that Christians avenge themselves of their enemies, and
work upon the hearts of their countrjmen.
If the sentiments of every sincere disciple of Christ are expressed in
tl>e preceding language of St. Paul, how deplorable then must be the
state of those Christians, whose anxiety either for their own salvation,
or for that of their nearest relations, bears no proportion to that eager
concern which this apostle manifested for the salvation of his bitterest
persecutors ! And if good pastors feel so ardent a desire to behold all
men actuated by the spirit of Christ, without exceptuig even their most
malicious enemies, what shall we say to those ministers who never shed
a single tear, nor ever breathed one ardent prayer for the conversion
of their parishioners, their friends, or their families ?
TRAIT XIX.
His love to those loliom he knew only by report.
Though the true minister takes a peculiar interest in every thing that
concerns the salvation of his countrymen, yet his Christian benevolence
is far from being confined witliin the narrow limits of a particular coun-
try. He desires to bear the name of his Saviour to the ends of the
earth ; and if he is not able to do this by his personal addresses, he will
do it, at least, by liis earnest wishes and his constant prayers. If Provi-
-dence have not yet fixed him in a particular Church, he writes, in the
manner of St. Paul, to the inhabitants of the most distant countries : " I
would not have yoii ignorant, brethren, that I" consider myself as a
"debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; both to the wise and
the unwise. And as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gos-
pel to you that are at Rome," where error and impiety have fixed their
throne. " For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Chiist : for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," Rom. i, 13-16.
If he writes to stranger converts, whose faith is publicly spoken of in
the world, he declares his sincere attachment to them, and his lotiging
44 THE PORTRAIT OF 8T. PAUL.
desire to afford them every spiritual assistance, in terms like these :
" God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his
Son, that witliout ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.
Making request, if, by any means, I might have a prosperous journey
by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may
impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be estabUshed ;
tliat is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith
both of you and me," Rom. i, 9-12.
If the Apostle Paul, when he knew the Romans no otherwise than by
report, expressed so ardent a desire to see them for the sole purpose of
inciting them to seek after higher degrees of faith and piety ; what must
be the disposition of those ministers who feel no desires of this nature,
even for the members of their o^vn flock ? And in how great an error are
those Christians, who frequently assemble together, either in their own
houses, or in more public places, for the very purpose of mutually for-
getting the restraints of piety, losing their time in frivolous conversation,
and debasing their minds by puerile amusements ! Farther : if the new
nature of the regenerate excites in them that lively concern for the
salvation of their neighbours, which St. Paul expressed for the salvation
of those who inhabited the remotest parts of the earth, is it becoming in
the faithful to stifle the motions of that commendable zeal which Chris-
tian charity alone can inspire ? And if there are to be found among us
dignified teachers, who, far from seconding a zeal so necessary in our
day, are rather disposed to extinguish the first sparks of it, wherever
they are discernible ; whom may they be said to take for their model,
Paul the apostle, or Saul the Pharisee ? Doubtless Saul, the agent of a
bigoted sect, and the open persecutor of the faithful.
TRAIT XX.
His charity toward the poor in giving or procuring for them temporal relief.
Though our Lord came principally to save the souls of sinners, yet
he was by no means unmindful of their bodies. " He went about doing
good," in the most unlimited sense, daily relieving, with equal care, the
corporal and spiritual maladies of the people. Thus, when he had dis-
tributed the word of God to those who were hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, he expressed an anxious concern for the support of those
among his followers who were sensible of no other wants, except such
as were of a temporal nature : " I have compassion on the multitude,
because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to
eat" — and not content with barely expressing his concern for their cor-
poral necessities, he wrought an astonishing miracle for their immediate
relief, Mark viii, 2. The true minister cheerfully imitates the conduct
of his gracious Master, by a strict and affectionate attention to the
spiritual and temporal wants of his people. "James, Cephas, and John,"
saith St. Paul, " gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,
that we should go unto the heathen : only they would that we should
remember the poor : the same which I also was forward to do," Gal.
ii, 9, 10.
When the liberality of St. Paul toward his necessitous brethren wan
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 46
restrained by his own excessive indigence, he employed the most effectual
means to procure tor them the generous benefactions of their wealthier
companions in the faith of the Gospel. The following passages,
extracted from liis epistles, may serve as sufficient proofs of tliis : " Bre-
thren," I cannot but inform you " of the grace of God bestowed on the
Churches of Macedonia ; how that, in a great trial of affliction, the
abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches
of their hberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond
their power, tliey were willing of themselves ; praying us, with much
entreaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowsliip
of the ministering to the saints. Therefore, as ye abound in faith, in
utterance, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love to us, see
that ye abound in this grace also. I speak by occasion of the forward-
ness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor, that ye, through his po\erty, might be rich.
Wherefore, show ye, before the Churches, the proof of your love, and of
our boasting on your behalf," 2 Cor. viii, 1-24.
Not yet content with these earnest solicitations in behalf of the poor,
the apostle thus proceeds to enforce his importunities : " I thought it
necessary to exhort the brethren that they should go before unto you,
and make up beforehand your bounty, that the same might be ready, as
a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. But this I say, he that
soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ; and he that soweth bounti-
fully, shall reap also bountifully. God loveth a cheerful givei*. And
God is able to make all grace abound toward you ; that ye, always hav-
ing all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work : as it
is written. He hath dispersed abroad ; he hath given to the poor ; his
righteousness remaiueth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the
sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown,
and mcrease the fruits of your righteousness ; tluit ye may he enriched
in every thing to all bountiiulness, which causes through us thanksgiving
to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the
wants of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto
God : while, by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for
your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ, and for your liberal
distril)ution unto them, and unto all men," 2 Cor. ix, 5-13. Who could
possibly refuse any tlnng to a godly minister pleading the cause of the
poor, with all this apostolic dignity, simphcity, and zeal ?
After having obtained alms for the poor, the Apostle Paul cautiously
avoided all susj)icion of appropriating any part of them to the relief of
his own necessuies ; and was equally careful that they were never mis-
employed through the unfaithfuhiess of those who were appointed to
distribute them. One of our brethren, adds the apostle, "chosen of the
Churches, accompanies" us in our journey " with this grace, which is
administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of
your ready mind : avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this
abundance, which is administered by us : providing for honest things,
not only in the sigiit of the Lord, but also in the sight of men," 2 Cor.
viii, 9-21. Mentioning again his favourite employment, he writes to a
distant Church, " Now I go imto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
40 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL.
For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain
contribution for the poor saints, which are at Jerusalem. When there-
fore I have perfoiTned this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will
come by j ou into Spain. Now I beseech you, brethren, that ye strive
together in your prayers for me, that I may be delivered from them that
do not believe in Judea ; and that the service which I have for Jerusa-
lem may be accepted of the saints," Rom. xv, 25-31.
Thus to wait upon tlie Churches, and particularly thus to attend upon
the poor, is to merit the name of a faithful minister.
TRAIT XXI.
His chanty toward sinners in offering tliem every spiritual assistance.
To solicit alms for those who are destitute of food and raiment, and
at the same time to witlihold the word of God from those " who hunger
and thirst after righteousness," is to manifest an unhappy inconsistency
of character. Such inconsistencies, however, are frequently discoverable
even among pastors, who pique themselves upon their disposition to
works of benevolence and charity.
Man has an immortal soul. This soul, which is properly himself, ia
rendei'ed, by disobedience, so totally ignorant and completely miserable,
that she seeks to enrich herself with the vanities of the world, and to
gratify her inclinations with the pollutions of sin. In pity to the soul in this
state of wretchedness, the truths of the Gospel are proposed by a compas-
sionate God, as a sacred remedy, adapted to the nature of her innumerable
wants : they illumine the blind with spiritual light and knowledge ; they
clothe the naked with the robe of righteousness ; they feed the hungry ;
they heal the sick ; they burst the captive's bands ; they give eternal life to
those who are dead in trespasses and sin : in a word, they make us par-
takers of the great salvation of God. To publish this Gospel, then, or to
procure the preaching of it to sinners, is undoubtedly to give them an im-
portant proof of the most excellent charity ; while, on the other hand, to
refuse them the word of God, or to avoid any occasion of administering it,
is absolutely or occasionally to deny them those spiritual alms and assist,
ances which the Saviour of the world has appointed for their daily relief.
The pastor who acts in this unbecoming manner resembles a physician,
or an almoner, who, having received a charge from his prince to supply
the poor with food, or the sick with medicine, not only refuses to acquit
himself with his acknowledged duty with diligence and impartiality, but
strenuously opposes those who endeavour to supply his lack of service.
Such a minister seems to maintain a system as absurd and cruel as
would be that of either of those characters just alluded to, who should
pretend that no one had authority to administer ahns to the poor, or
medicine to the sick, except such as received pensions from the prince
for that purjjose ; and that even these would act in a disorderly maimer,
if they should dare to distribute ahns or remedies except on the Sabbath
day, and then only during particular hoiu's.
So long as any pastor seeks his own glory, so long he will be subject to
some degree of that contemptible jealousy, which will not suffer him to
behold with pleasure the more abundant and successful labours of his
THE I'DRTOAIT OF ST. I'AUI.. 47
brethren. But the faithful minister of Christ, whose chief desire is the
prosperity of the Church, is actuated by a totally different spirit. Though
he has a peculiar satisfaction in beholding the success of his own spiritual
labours ; yet when he hears tlie Gospel published by others, and even
by such as are apparently influenced by unworthy motives, he greatly
rejoices in their success. His charity, which neither envies another's
prosperity, nor seeks his own particular advantage, expresses itself, upon
so delicate a subject, in the language of St. Paul : " Some indeed preach
Christ even of envy and strife, supposing to add affliction to my bonds.
What then ? notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence or in tiiith,
Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice,"
Phil, i, 15-18.
Influenced by envy, or rendered insensible by their lukewarmness,
worldly ministers are absolute strangers to the generous pleasure here
mentioned by the apostle ; nor have they the least idea of acting in a
criminal manner, when they will not permit the truths of the Gospel to
be freely declared by all who are disposed to announce them.
The good pastor, by whatever name he may be distinguished, lives
only to pubhsh the Gospel, and to convert the souls committed to his
charge : to restrain him then from attending to these important labours,
is to force him aside from the true end of his calling, and must appear
to every enlightened mind a greater act of cruelty, than to withhold
the rich from giving alms, or to detain an expert swimmer from saving
his drowning brethren. If such a pastor, in any period of liis life, has
acted like a monopolist of the Gospel, and, by denying to the " poor in
spii'it," what was freely given for their support, has caused in any place
a " famine of the woi'd ;" he believes himself abundantly more culpable
than those avaricious merchants, who, by forming a mono})oly of grain
in the East Indies, caused a grievous famine in that country, by which
an iiniumerable multitude of its inhabitants perished. Those covetous
men denied to the bodies of their neighbours a perishable nourishment ;
but he has withheld from the souls of his brethren that precious manna,
which might have preserved them to everlasting life. Such was the
crime of those whom our Lord addressed in the following words : " Wo
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hyiiocritcs ! for ye shut up the kingdom
of heaven against men ; for yo neither go in }'ourselves, neither sufler
ye them, that are entering, to go in," Matt, xxiii, 13. Observe St.
Paul's sentiments of such characters. With respect to those Jews, " who
both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted
us ; they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to
speak to the Gentiles, that tiiey might be saved," filling up by this
means the measure of their sin : " for the wrath is come upon them to
the uttermost," 1 Tlicss. ii, 15, 16.
If the character whicli the apostle here describes was odious in a Jew,
without doubt it is more so in a Christian, and still doubly detestable in
a minister of the Gospel, whose heart should continually be animated
with a fervent desire for the conversion of sinners, and the salvation of
all mankind. Were it possible for those who are distinguished by this
trait of the character of Antichrist to discover the turpitude of their own
conduct, they would acknowledge themselves abundantly more guilty
than the robber, who should force away from a famished pauper the
iS THE PORTRAIT OF 8T. PAUL.
morsel of bread lie had begged in his distress. They would pronounce,
without hesitation, that the foster-mother who neglects the infant she
has undertaken to cherish, and prevents her charitable neighbours from
affording it any nourishment, is still more excusable than the pastor,
who, not content with refusing to feed the flock of Christ, endeavours to
scatter his sheep wherever they are found feeding, seeking out accusa-
tions against those who have led them to a refreshing pasture, and
studying, by every mean, to withdraw the Gospel from those penitent
sinners, who, " as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that they may grow thereby," 1 Pet. ii, 2.
Happy will be the age in which Christian pastors shall no longer be
found, like the scribes in the days of St. Paul, labouring to fill up the
measure of their iniquities ! Then truth and piety shall no longer be
restrained by the fetters of prejudice and bigotry ! Then the faithful
shall worship God, and publish the Gospel, with as much freedom as
the dissipated indulge themselves in the sports of the age, or the
malevolent in slandering their neighbours !
TRAIT XXII.
The engaging condescension of his humble charity.
Charity avoids all appearance of haughtiness, and is never seen to
act in an unbecoming manner. On the contrary, full of courtesy, she
fears lest she should give offence to any ; and, full of benevolence, she
labours for the edification of all. Here the charitable pastor cannot act
otherwise than with a holy condescension toward all men, and especially
toward the ignorant and poor, with whom the ministers of the present age
will scarcely deign to converse : and, without ever slipping his foot into
the pit of error, he sometimes approaches it with a happy mixture of
compassion and piiidence, for the relief of those who are unable to ex-
tricate themselves from it. " Though I am free from all men," writes
St. Paul, " yet I have made myself servant unto all, that I might gain
the more. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the
Jews : to them that are without law, as without law, that I might gain
them that are without a written law. To the weak became I as weak,
that I might gain the weak : I am made all things to all men, that I
might by all means save some. And this I do for the Gospel's sake,"
1 Cor. ix, 19-23. "All things are lawful for me," continues he, " but
all things are not expedient : all things are lawful for me, but all tilings
edify not," 1 Cor. x, 23. " When ye sin against the brethren by
wounding their weak conscience, ye sin agamst Christ. Wherefore, if
meat make my brother to oflend, I will eat no flesh while the world
standeth, lest I make my brother to offend," 1 Cor. viii, 12, 13.
" Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God. Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking .
mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved,"
1 Cor. x, 32, 33.
Behold that sweet prudence of charity w hich our Lord recommended
to his disciples, when he pointed out the folly of putting new wine into
such bottles as were unable to resist the force of the fermenting liquor.
THE rOETRAIT OF ST. TAUL. 49
And of this affectionate discretion he himself gave them a striking
example, when he said, " I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear tliem now." If tliis condescending carriage was lovely in
the blessed Jesus, it a\ ill ever appear amiable in his humble imitators,
who can say, with the Apostle Paul, to the weaker members of the
Church, " We have fed }ou with millv, and not with meat; for hitherto
ye were not able to bear it," 1 Cor. iii, 2.
Special care is, however, to be taken that this charitable condescen-
sion may never betray the interests of truth and virtue. " Abstain,"
saith St. Paul, " from all appearance of evil," 1 Thess. v, 22. " Be ye
followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," 1 Cor. xi, 1. For " hei'ein
do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward
God and toward men," Acts xxiv, 16. And "our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not
with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conver-
sation in the world, and more abundantly to you-Avard," among whom
we have laboured in the Gospel, 2 Cor. i, 12.
If there exist pastors who lack this condescension toward the poor,
or who are destitute of that humble charity which can familiarize itself
with the most ignorant for their edification and comfort : if there are
ministers to be found who arc ever meanly complaisant to the rich, and
who are void of holy resolution in the presence of the great, instead of
conducting themselves with that mingled humiUty and dignity which are
suitable to the character they sustain, — may the one and the other be
convinced of the grievous error into Avhich they are fallen, while they
contemplate this opposite trait in the character of St. Paul.
Upon what consideration is founded the humiliating distinction which
is generally made between the rich and the poor 1 Was Christ mani-
fested in a state of earthly grandeur ? Did he not chiefly associate with
the poor? Far from flattering the rich, did he not insinuate that they
would, with the utmost difficulty, enter into the Idngdom of God ? Did
he not aflirm il were better for a man to be cast into the sea with a
millstone about his neck, than to oficnd the poorest beUever ? Did he
not declare that he would consider the regard shown to the meanest of
his followers as though he himself had been the immediate object of it ?
When St. James assures us that " he w ho converteth a sinner from the
error of his way," performs the best of all possible good works, because,
by preventing a multitude of sins, he places the soul in the road to
every virtue, — can tliis declaration lie supposed to lose any of its force
when applied to the soul of a poor man ? Are not the lowest of men
immortal as the most elevated 1 Did not Christ humble himself to tho
death of the cross for the poor as well as the rich ? " Hath not God
chosen the poor of this woild, rich in faith, (uid heirs of the kingdom?"
And, linall}', were the ;ingels less ready to convey the soul of [lerishing
Lazarus to paradise than tliat of wealthy Abraham? Perish then for
ever that unchristian prejudice which dishonours the poor, nourishes the
pride of the rich, and leads us to the violation of that gieat command,
by which we become as guilty as though we had transgressed the whole
law, the spirit of which is love. And let us remember it is only out of
the ruins of so despicable a partiality, that the engaging condescension, of
which iSt. Paul has left us so lovely an example, can possibly be produced^
Vol. Hi. 4
60 THE roilTE-UT OF ST. PAUL,
TRAIT XXIII.
His courage in defence of oppressed truth.
" Charity rejoiceth in the truth," 1 Cor. xiii, 6. These two amiable
companions are closely united together, and mutually sustain each other.
It is possible, however, when an error has the sutirages of many per-
sons, respectable on account of their wisdom, their age, their rank, their
labours, or their piety, that a sincere Christian may be tempted to
sacrifice truth to autliority, or rather to a mistaken charity. But the
enlightened pastor, putting on the resolution of St. Paul, will never
sufler himself to be imposed upon by the appearance of either persons
or things ; and tliough he should sec himself standing alone on the side
of evangeUcal truths, he will not fear, even singly, to act as their modest
and zealous defender.
In these circumstances a lukewarm mmister loses all his courage.
Behold his general plea for the pusillanimity of his conduct — "I am
alone, and what success can I expect in so difficult an imdertaking ?
The partisans of this error are persons whom I both love and honour.
Some of them have shown me great kindness, and others have suffi-
cient credit to prejudice the world against me. Moreover, it would be
looked upon as presumption in me, who am weaker than a reed, to
oppose myself to a torrent, which bears down the strongest pillars of
the Church." Such is the manner in which he apologizes for the
timidity of his conduct in those situations, where his lo^e of truth is
publicly called to the test : not considering, that to reason thus is to
forget at once the omnipotence of God, the force of truth, and the un-
speakable worth of those souls which error may poison and destroy.
On the contrary, the faithful minister, who, on all occasions, rejoices
in the truth, " conferring not with flesh and blood," courageously refuses
to bear the yoke of any error that must evidently be accompanied with
evil consequences. In the most trying situations of this nature he imi-
tales the conduct of the great apostle, who, when he saw a shameful
error making its way in the Church, placed himself in the gap, and gave
way to the emotions of his honest zeal, as related in the following pas-
sage : " False brethren came in privily to spy out our hberty a\ liich we
have in Clu-ist Jesus, that they might bring us mto bondage. To whom
we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour; that the truth of the
Gospel might continue with you. And when Peter was come to An-
tioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For
before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles : but
when they were come, he withdrew and separated hunself, fearing them
which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled like-
wise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also," mider the specious pre-
tence of not offending his neighbour, " was carried away with their
dissimulation. But when 1 saw that they walked not uprightly accord-
ing to the trutli of the (Jospel, I said unto Peter before them all. If thou,
being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the
Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews ?"
Gal. ii, 4, 14.
This reasouublc reprimand is, perhaps, one of the greatest proofs
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 51
which St. Paul ever gave of the uprightness of his intention, and the
steadiness of his resohition.
Ye men of integrity ! ye, who have proved how much it costs to
defend the rights of. truth, when they stand opposed to that deference
wliich condescending love obliges us to show in a thousand instances
to respectable authority ; you alone are able to make a proper judgment
of the holy violence which was exercised by St. Paul upon this occasion.
But whatever they may be called to endure in so honourable a cause,
happy are those Christians, and doubly happy those pastors who have
so great a love for trutli, and so tme a love tor their brethren, that they
are ready at all times, with tliis faithful apostle, to sacrifice to the inte-
rests of the Gospel every inferior consideration, every servile fear, and
every worldly hope.
TRAIT XXIV.
His prudence in frustrating the designs of his enemies.
There is no kind of calumny which the incredulous have not ad-
vanced, in order to render Christianity either odious or contemptible.
According to the notions of these men, to adopt the maxims of evan-
gelical patience argues a want of sensibility ; and to regulate our
conduct according to the dictates of Christian prudence, is to act the
hypocrite. What we have to say, in this place, will chiefly respect the
latter charge.
It has been asserted, by modern infidels, that the gentleness and for-
bearance which the Gospel requires of its professors, must necessarily
make them the dupes of designing men, and lead them unreluctantly
into the snares of their persecutors. But to draw this inference from
some few passages of Scripture, understood in too hteral a sense, is to
set truth at variance with itself, merely for the purpose of charging
Christians with all the evil, which, it is presumed, they might have
avoided by prudence, or have overcome by resolution. The example
of our Lord, and that of St. Paul, might have rectified the ideas of
cavillers upon this point. When Christ exhorted his disciples to be
" harmless as doves," he admonished them at the same time to be " wise
as serpents :" and of this hai'mless wisdom he himself gave a striking
example, when he was interrogated by the Jews respecting the la^v ful-
ness of paymg tribute unto Cesar. Well acquainted with the different
sentiments of that people \\'ith regard to the Roman }'oke, without
directly combatting the prejudices of any party, he returned a satisfac-
tory answer to all parties, by an inference drawn from "the image and
superscription" borne upon their current coin, — " Render therefore unto
Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and unto God the things that are
God's," Matt, xxii, 21.
The sincere Christian, and the faithful minister, have frequently oc-
casion for this happy prudence, as well as St. Paul, who, more than
once, employed it w ith success. The Jews, irritated against this apostle,
sought occasion to destroy him, on account of the zeal with which he
published the Gospel among the Gentiles. Hoping to soften the preju-
dices they entertained against his conduct, he recounted to them how
52 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
Jesus, being raised from the dead and appearing to hiin in an extra-
ordinary manner, had expressly sent him to the Gentiles, Acts xxii, 21,
when the Jews, more irritated than before, would have torn him in
pieces, had he not been rescued out of their hands by the Roman gar-
rison. By this means Paul was preserved for a more peaceflil hearing.
And on the morrow, when he stood before the Jewish council, perceiv-
ing that the assembly was composed partly of Sadducees, who say
there is "no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit;" and partly of
Pharisees, who believe equally in the existence of spirits and the resur-
rection of the body ; he immediately availed hmiself of this circumstance,
and cried out, " Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Phari-
see : of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question,"
Acts xxiii, 6. As though he had said. The great cause of the violent
persecution that is now raised against me is, that I preach " Jesus and
the resurrection." Our fathers, indeed, were not absolutely assured of
a life to come ; but the important doctiine of the resurrection, aud of
the judgment that shall follow, is now demonstrated ; shice God has
given an incontestable proof of it, in raising up his son Jesus from the
dead. And I myself have been an eye witness of his resurrection, to
whom he has appeared two several times ; once as I journeyed to Da-
mascus, and atterward as I prayed in the temple. But when 1 men-
tioned this second appearance of a risen Saviour, my incredulous
accusers began vehemently to cry out, "Away with such a fellow from
the earth." B}^ this just exposition of the fact, and by his prudent
selection of "the resurrection of Christ" from among the other great
doctrines of Christianit}-, St. Paul happily caused a division to take
place among his judges. And the event answered his expectation : for
" the scribes tliut were of tlie Pharisees' part, arose, saying, We find no
evil in this man ; but if a spirit," that is, a man risen from the dead,
" or an angel, hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God," Acts
xxiii, 9. There is still another instance of the wisdom of the serpent
reconciling itself with the innocence of the dove, in the conduct of this
apostle, when marking the disposition of his Athenian judges, he took
advantage of their taste for novelty by announcing to them "The un-
ImowTi God," to whom they had already erected an altar, Acts xvii.
This Christian prudence, equally distant from the duplicity of hypo-
crites and the stupidity of idiots, merits a place among the traits wliich
characterize this great apostle, not only because it is worthy of our imita-
tion, but also because it has been indirectly represented, by a modern
Celsus, as mere cunning and artifice. The author here alluded to, who
deserves rather to be called a great poet than a faithful painter, having
disfigured tliis trait of St. Paul's character with a pencil dipped in the
gall of prejudice, we gladly take this occasion of setting forth the
injustice of his imputations, so illiberally cast both upon Cliristianity
itself, and (he most eminent of its defenders. This witty philosopher,
who has said so many good things against the spirit of persecution,
never perceived that he himself was actuated by an intolerant spirit :
so true it is, that the most sagacious are hable to be blinded by passion
or prejudice. The same spirit of persecution which excited the Athe-
nians to discountenance the justice of Aristides as a dangerous singu-
larity, and to punish the piety of Socrates as a species of atheism, led
THR rORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 53
the author of the Philosophical Dictionary to represent the prudence of
St. Paul as the duplicity of a hypocrite.
Had this severe judge occupied the seat of Ananias, he might, per- ,
haps, with an afiected liberality, have overlooked the pecuUarities of the
apostles' creed ; but, in the end, his innate detestation of piety would
have assisted liim, according to the general custom of persecutors, to
feign some just cause for treating him with the utmost rigour. And
this he has done in our day as far as his circumstances would permit ;
since, not being able to disgrace him by the hand of a public execu-
tioner, he has studied to do it with his pen, by ravishing from him, not
only his reputation for extraordinaiy piety, but even his claim to com-
mon honesty.
Persecutor ! whoever thou art, be content that thy predecessors have
taken away the lives of the righteous, and spare them, what they prefer
intinitely before life itself, " the testimony of a good conscience."
TRAIT XXV. ,/
His tenderness toward others, and his severity toward himself.
Though perfectly insensible to the warm emotions of brotherly love,
the worldly pastor frequently repeats, in his public discourses, those
affectionate expressions which flow so cordially from the lips of faithful
ministers, " My dear brethren in Christ !" These expressions from the
pulpit are almost unavoidable upon some occasions ; but, in general,
they are to be regai-ded in no other light than the civil addresses of a
haughty person, who concludes his epistles b}^ assuring his correspond,
ents that he considers it an honour to subscribe himself their obedient
servant. But while the worldly minister affects a degree of benevolence
which he cannot feel, the good pastor, out of the abundance of a heart
overflowing with Christian charity, addresses liis brethren \vith the utmost
affeciion and regard, not only without any danger of feigning what he
has not experienced, but even without a possibihty of expressing the
ardour of his brotherly love. His exhortations to the faithful, like those
of St. Paul, are seasoned with an unction of grace, and accompanied
with a flow of tenderness which frequently give them an astonishing
effect upon his brethren, and which always evince the interest he takes
in the concerns of the Church. " Rebuke not an elder," says St. Paul,
" but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren : the
elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity," 1 Tim.
V, 1. Such was the exhortation of this apostle to a young minister, nor
was his example unsuitable to his counsel. " I beseech you, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God. Dearly beloved, be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good," Rom. xii, 1, 19, 21. "I write not these
things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you," 1 Cor. iv, 14.
*' I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called," Eph. iv, 1. " If there be any con-
solation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded,
being of one accord. My beloved, work out your own sahation with
64 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
fear and trembling," Phil, ii, 1, 2, 12. "We l)eseech you, brethren,
and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of ug how
ye ought to walk, and to please God, so ye would abound more and
more," 1 Thess. iv, 1. " Though I might be much bold in Christ, to
enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech
thee, being such a one as Paul the aged, and noAV also a prisoner of
Jesus Christ. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, a\ horn I have be-
gotten in my bonds ; who in time past Mas unto thee unprofitable, but
now profitable unto thee and me, whom I have sent again. Thou there-
fore receive him, that is, mine OAvn bowels. Yea, brother, let me have
joy of thee in the Lord ; refresh my bowels in the Lord," Philemon ver.
8, 12, 20. Such was the tenderness and affection with wliich St. Paul
was accustomed to address his believing brethren. But the language
of this apostle was very different when he spoke of himself, and of that
body of sin which constrained liim to cry out, " O wretched man that
I am !"
It is the character of too many persons to be severe toward the fail-
ings of others, while they show the utmost lenit}^ toward themselves,
with respect both to their infirmities and their vices. Always ready to
place the faults of their neighbours in an odious light, and their own in
the most favourable point of view, they seem to be made up of nothing
but partiality and self love ; while the true minister reserves liis greatest
indulgence for others, and exercises the greatest severity toward him-
self. " All tilings are lawful for me," writes St. Paul, " but I will not
be brought under the power of any," 1 Cor. vi, 12. "Know ye not
that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize ? And
every one that striveth for tlie mastery is temperate in all things : now
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I
therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth
the air : but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : lest
that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be
a caflt-away," 1 Cor. ix, 24-27.
One reflection naturally finishes this trait of the character of St. Paul.
If this spiritual man, if this great apostle thought himself obhged to use
such strenuous efforts, that he might not be rejected before God at the
last, in how great danger are those careless pastors and Christians, who,
far from accustoming theuiselves to holy acts of self denial, satisfy their
natural desires without any apprehension, and treat those as enthusiasts
who begin to imitate St. Paul, by regarding their baptismal vow, and
renouncing their sensual appetites.
TRAIT XXVI.
His love never degenerated into cowardice, hit reproved and consoled, as
occasion required.
The charity of the true minister bears no resemblance to that phan-
tom of a virtue, that mean complaisance, that unmanly pliancy, that
unchristian cowardice, or that affected generosity, which the ministers
of this day delight to honour with the name of charity. According to
these insufficient judges, to be charitable is only to give some trifling
THE PORTE AIT OV ST. PAUL. 55
alma out of our abundant supfirfluities, to tolerate the most dangerous
errors, without daring to hft up the standard of (ruth, and to behold the
overflowings of vice, without attempting to oppose the threatening torrent.
Such would be the mistaken charity of a surgeon, who, to spare the
mortifying arm of his friend, should sufler the gangrene to spread over
his whole body. Such was the charity of the liigh priest Eli toward
Hoplini and Phinehas ; an impious charity, which permitted him to be-
hold their shameful debaucheries with too favourable an eye ; a fatal
charit}-, which opened that abyss of evil whicli finally swallowed them
up, and into which they dragged with them their father, their children,
tiie people of Israel, and the Church, over which they had been ap-
pointed to preside.
The good pastor, conscious that he shall save a soul from death, if
he can but prevail with a sinner to forsake his evil way, uses every
effort to accomplish so important a work. And among other probable
means, which he employs on the occasion, he tries the force of severe
reprehension, rebuking the wicked with a holy authority ; and, if it be
necessary, returning to the charge with a spark of that glowing zeal
with which his IVIaster was influenced, \vhen he forced from the temple
those infamous buyers and sellers who had profaned it with their carnal
merchandise. Thus St. Paul, on receiving information that scandalous
erroi's had been disco\ ered in the conduct of a member of the Corinthian
Church, immediately wrote to that Church in the following severe and
solenm manner : " It is reported that there is fornication among you.
And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath
done this deed might be taken away from among you. Know ye not
that a little leaven Icaveneth the whole lump," and that the plague in
any single member of a society is sufficient to uafect the whole company ?
" Purge out therefore the old leaven, and put away from among your-
selves that wicked person. If any that is called a brother be a forni-
cator, keep not company with such a one, no not to eat. Be not
deceived : fornicators shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Know ye
not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Flee fornication, there-
fore, and avoid the company of fornicators. For ye are bought with a
price : therefore glorify God in your bndjr and in your spirit, which are
God's. Farther, I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have
judged already concerning the lascivious person that is among you, to
deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," 1 Cor. v, vi.
When the true minister has passed the severest censures upon sinners,
and beholds those censures attended with the desired effect, he turns to
the persons he lately rebuked w ith testimonies of that unbounded charity
that " beareth all things, and hopeth all things." More ready, if pos-
sible, to reUeve the dejected than to humble the presumptuous, after
having manifested the courage of a lion he puts on the gentleness of a
lamb, consoling and encouraging the penitent offender, and never ceasing
to intercede for him, till liis pardon is obtained both from God and man.
Thus St. Paid, who had so sharply rebuked the Corinthians in his first
epistle, gave them abundant consolation in his second, and exhorted
them to receive with kindness the person whom he had before enjoined
tl^m to excommunicate. It is easy to recognize the tenderness of Cinist
50 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
in tlie following language of this benevolent apostle : " I wrote unto you
my first episUe out of niuoli affliction and anguish of heart, with majiy
tears, not that ye shoulfl be grieved, but that ye might know the love
which I have more abundantly unto you," 2 Cor. ii, 4. "Great is my
glorying of you : I am filled Avith comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all
our tribulation. God, that comlbrteth them that are cast down, com-
forted us by the coming of Titus, my messenger, when he told us your
earnest desire, your mourning, and your fervent mind toward me. For
though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did
repent. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sor-
roAved to repentance. For ye were made sorry after a godly manner.
For behold, what carefulness it wrought in you ! What clearing of your-
selves! What holy indignation ! What fear! What vehement desire !
What zeal ! What revenge ! In all things ye have approved yourselves
to be clear in this matter. Moreover, we were comforted in your com-
foiL Yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus,
because his spirit A\'as refreshed by you all. And his inward affection
is more abundant toward jou, while he remembereth the obedience of
you all, and how you received him, together with my reproof, with fear
and trembling. I rejoice, therefore, that I ha\e confidence in you in
all things," 2 Cor. vii. And with respect to the person who has caused
us so much distress, " Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, Avhich
was inflicted of many. So that now ye ought rather to forgive him,
and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with
overmuch soriow. Wherefore, I beseech you, that ye would confirm
your love toward him. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also:
Nay, I have already forgiven him for your sakes, as in the presence of
Christ," 2 Cor. ii, 6-10.
Great God ! appoint over thy flock vigilant, charitable, and courage-
ous pastors, Avho may discern the simier through all his deceitful ap-
pearances, and separate him from thy peaceful fold, whether he be an
unclean goat or a ravenous wolf. Permit not thy ministers to confound
the just with the unjust, rendering contemptible the most sacred mys-
teries, by admitting to them persons with whom virtuous heathens
would blush to converse. Touch the hearts of those pastors who harden
thy rebellious people, by holding out tokens of thy favour to those who
are the objects of thy wrath : and permit no longer the bread of life,
which they carelessly distribute to all wlio choose to profane it, to be-
come in their unhallowed hands the bread of death. Discover to them
the impiety of ofleruig their holy things to the dogs : and awaken in
them a holy fear of becoming accomplices with those hypocritical mon-
sters, who press into thy temple to crucify tliy Son afresli ; and w ho,
by a constant profanation of the symbols of our holy faith, add to their
other abominations the execrable act of eating and drinking their own
damnation, and that with as much composure as some among them
swallow down the intoxicating draught, or utter the most impious
blasphemies.
AN OBJECTION ANSWERED.
Before we proceed to the consideration of another trait of the cha-
racter of St. Paul, it will be necessary to refute an objection to wliich
THE POHTKAIT OP ST. PAUL. 57
the preceding tniit may appeal' liable. "Dare you," it may be asked,
*' propose to ns us a model, a man who could strike Elymas with blind-
ness, and deliver up to Satan the body of a sinner ?"
Answer. 'J'lie excellent motive, and the happy success of the apostle's
conduct in both these instances, entirely justify him. He considered
affliction not only as the crucible in which God is frequently pleased to
pui-ify the just, but as the last remedy to be employed for the resto-
ration of obstinate sinners. Behold the reason why the charity of the
primitive Church demanded, in behalf of God, that the rod should not
be spared, when the impiety of men was no longer able to be restrained
by gentler means : determining, that it was far better to be brought to
repentance, even b}' the sharpest sufierings, than to live and die in a
sinful state. To exercise this high degree of holy and cliari table severity
toward a sinner, was, in some mysterious manner, " to deliver up his
body to Satan," who was looked upon as the executioner of God's right-
eous vengeance in criminal cases. Thus Satan destroyed the first-born in
Egypt, sjnote the subjects of David with the pestilence, and cut off the
vast army of Sennacherib. St. John has thrown some hght upon this
profound mystery by asserting, " There is a sin unto death," 1 John v,
16 : and the case of Ahab is fully ui point ; for when that king had
committed this sin, a spirit of error received immediate orders to lead
him forth to execution upon tlie plains of Ramoth-Gilead, 1 Kings xxii,
20, 22. This awful doctrine is farther confirmed by St. Luke, when he
relates, that in the same instant, when the people, in honour of Herod,
" gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god and not of a man, the
angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory : and
he was eaten up of worms, and gave up the ghost," Acts xii, 22, 23.
The punishment thus inflicted, by the immediate order of God, was
always propoilioued to the nature of the oflTence. If the sin was " not unto
death," it was followed by some temporaiy affliction, as in the cases of
El} mas and the incestuous Corinthian. If the crime committed was of
such a nature that the death of the sinner became necessary, either for
the salvation of his soul, for the reparation of his crime, or to alarm
those who might probably be corrupted by his pernicious example, he
was then either smitten with some incurable disease, as in the case of
Herod ; or stnick with immediate death, as in the case of Ananias and
Sapphira, who sought to veil their hypocrisy with appearances of piety,
and their double-dealing with a lie. Had M. Voltaire considered the
Christian Cluu'ch as a well-regulated species of theocracy, he would
have seen the foil}' of his whole reasoning with respect to the authority of
that Chui'ch in its primitive state. And convinced that God has a much
greater right to pronounce, by his ministers, a just sentence of corporal
punishment, and even death itself, than any temporal prince can claim
to pronounce such sentence by his oflicers : that daring philosopher,
instead of pointing his sarcasms against an institution so reasonable and
holy, would have been constrained to ti'emble before the Judge of all the
earth.
Finally. It is to be observed, that when this kind of jurisdiction was
exercised in tlie Church, the followers of Christ, not having any magis-
trates of theii" own religion, lived under the governmeni of those hea-
thenish rulers, who tolerated those very crimes whir 1 1 were peculiarly
58 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
offensive to the pure spirit of the Gospeh And on this account God was
pleased to permit the most eminent among his people, on some extra-
ordinary occasions, to exercise that terrible power, which humbled the
offending Church of Corinth, and overthrew the sorcerer Elymas in his
wicked career. If it be inquired. What would become of manldnd, were
the clergy of this day possessed of the extraordinary power of St. Paul?
We answer, The terrible manner in which St. Paul sometimes exercised
the authority he had received, with respect to impenitent sinners, is not
left as an example to the ecclesiastics of the present day, unless they
should come (which is almost impossible) into similar circumstances,
and attain to equal degrees of discernment, faith, and charity, with this
apostle himself.
TRAIT XXVII.
His perfect disinterestedness.
If " charity seeketh not her own ;" and if it is required, that the con-
versation of the faithful should be without covetousness, it becomes the
true minister, in an especial manner, to maintain an upright and disin<
terested conduct in the world.
Though it be true, that " they which wait at the altar are partakers
with the altar ;" yet nothing is so detestal)le to the faithful pastor as the
idea of enriching himself with the sacred spoils of that altar. Observe
how St. Paul expresses liimself upon this subject : " We brought nothing
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Having,
therefore, food and raiment, let us be therewiih content. But they that
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and
hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition. For the love of money is
the root of all evil : which, wliile some have coveted after, they have
erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God," who art set apart as a minister of the ever-
lasting Gospel, " flee these things ; and follow after righteousness, god-
liness, faith, love, patience, meekness," 1 Tim. vi, 7-11. With regard
to myself, " I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be
content. Every where, and in all things, I am mstructed both to be full
and to be hvmgry, both to abound and to suffer need," Phil, iv, 11, 12.
♦' Neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak
of covetousness ; God is witness. For ye remember our labour and
travail, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. Ye are
our witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblaraably, we
behaved ourselves among you that believe, 1 Thoss. ii, 5, 10. Behold,
the third time I am ready to come to you ; and I will not be burdensome
to you ; for I seek not yours, but you : for the children ought not to lay
up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very
gladly spend and be spent for you," 2 Cor. xii, 14, 15. Behold the
disinterestedness of the faitlfful shepherd, who is ever less ready to
receive food and clothing from the flock than to lal)our for its protection
and support! Behold the spirit of Christ! And let the pastor, who is
influenced by a different spirit, draw that alarming inference from his
state, whicli he is taught to do by the following expression of St. Paul :
THE PORTRAIT OF ST, PAUL. 59
"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of hia," Rom.
viii, 9.
Happy would be the Christian Church were it blessed with disinte-
rested pastors ! Avaricious ministers, who are more taken up with the
concerns of earth than with the things of heaven, who are more disposed
to enrich their famihes than to supply the necessities of the poor, who
are more eager to multiply their benefices, or to augment their salaries,
than to improve their talents, and increase the number of tlie faithful :
such ministers, instead of benefiting the Church, harden the impenitent,
aggravate their own condemnation, and force infidels to believe that the
holy ministry is used, by the generaUty of its professors, as a comfortable
means of securing to themselves the perishable bread, if not the fading
honours, of the present life.
TRAIT XXVIII.
His condescension in labouring at times vnih his oitn hands, that he might
preach industry by e-xample, as well as by precept.
Such is the disinterestedness of the true minister, that though he might
claim a subsistence from the sacred oflice to w hich he has been solemnly
consecrated, yet he generously chooses to sacrifice his rights when he
camiot enjoy them without giving some occasion for reproach. To
supply his daily wants, he is not asliamed to labour with his own hands,
when he is called to publish the Gospel, either among the poor, or in
those countries where the law has not appointed him a maintenance, as
among heathen nations and savage tribes : nor will he refuse to do this
when his lot falls among a slothful people, animating them to diligence
in their several vocations by his prudent condescension, that the Gospel
may not be blamed. In such circumstances, if his own patrimony be
insufficient for his support, no disciple of Jesus will blush to follow the
example of St. Paul, who gives the following representation of his own
conduct in cases of a like nature : " Have I committed an offence in
abasing mjself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to
you the Gospel of God freely ? When I was present with 5 ou and wanted,
I was chargeable to no man : in all things I have kept myself from being
burthensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ
is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
Wherefore 1 because I love you not ? God knoweth. But that I may
cut off occasion from them that desire occasion," and who would not
fail to represent me as a self-interested person, were they able to charge
me with the enjoyment of my just rights among you, 2 Cor. xi, 7-12.
" I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel : 56 yourselves
know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, anJtothem
that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so labour-
ing ye ought to support the weak ; and to remember the words of the
Lord Jesus, how he said. It is more blessed to give than to receive,"
Acts XX, 33, 35. Ye know how ye ought to follow us : for we behaved
not ourselves disor(5crly among you, neither did we eat any man's bread
for nought ; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we
might not be chargeable to any of you ; not because we have not power,
60 THE POBTKAIT OF ST. VAVL.
but to make ourselves an ensample unto you. For even wlien we were
with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither
should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among
you disorderly, worki)ig not at all, but are busybodies," 2 Thess. iii,
7-1 1. Happy were those times of Christian simplicity, when the apostles
of Chritst tliought it no disgrace to follow some useful occupation for the
relief of their temporal necessities : when, instead of eating the bread
of idleness, they cast their net alternately for fishes and for men : when
they quitted the tabernacles, in whicli they were wont to labour, for the
sacred recreation of setting before sinners " a building of God, a house
not made with hands, eternal m the heavens." Of how much greater
value were the nets of St. Peter than dogs of the chase ; and the work-
ing implements of St. Paul than those tables of play, at which many of
liis unworthy successors are now seeking amusement !
But notwithstanding all the circumspection and prudence of the faith-
ful pastor, even though ho should think it necessary' to preach industry
by example as well as by precept, yet if his exhortations are more fre-
quent than those of his lukewarm brethren, he will be reproached by the
irreligious part of the world, as an indirect advocate for indolence. The
enemies of piety and truth are still ready to renev/ the old objections of
Pharaoh against the service of God : " Wherefore do ye let the people
from their works ? The people of the land are many, and you make
them rest from their burdens. They be idle : therefore they cry, saying,
Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon
the men, and let them not regard vain words," Exodus v, 4, 9. Such
is the erroneous judgment wliich is generally formed respecting the most
zealous servants of God : but while they feel the bitterness of tliese unmerited
reproaches, they draw more abundant consolation from the encouraging
language of their gracious Master : " Blessed are ye when men shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be
exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven : for so persecuted
they the prophets, which were before you," Matt, v, 11, 12.
The declared adversaries of religion are not, however, the only per-
sons who accuse a laborious minister of diverting the people from their
business, by the too frequent returns of public exhortation and prayer.
There are others, not wholly destitute of piety, who frequently add weight
to these imjust accusations. Such are the half converted, who, not yet
understanding the inestimable woi'th of that bread which nourishcth the
soul to everlasting life, are chiefly engaged in labouring for the bread
which perisheth. Men of this character, engaging themselves in a vast
variety of earthly concerns, incessantly " disquiet themselves in vain,"
and consider those hours as rvmning to waste, in which a zealous pastor
detains them from worldly cares and frivolous enjoyments. While he is
engagedin teaching, that " one thing [only] is [absolutely] needful," they
are grasping at every apparent good that solicits their affections : and
while he is insisting upon the necessity of choosing " that good part that
shall not be taken away," these formal professors are ready to reason
with him, as Martha with Jesus, Dost thou not know how greatly we
are cumbered with a multiplicity of vexatious concerns ; and " carest
thou not" that our assistants and dependents are detained from their ne-
cessary avocations by an indolent attendance upon thy ministry '
THE rORTBAIT OF ST. rAUI.. 61
These false sentiments, ^vith respect lx)th to the ministers and the word
of God, which too generally prevail among nominal Christians, have
their source in that direct opposition, which must always subsist between
the grand maxim of the children of God, and the distinguishmg principle
of worldly men : " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous-
ness," saith the blessed Jesus, " and all these things," which are farther
necessary to your welfare, " shall be added unto you," Matt, vi, 33.
No, replies the piince of this world ; seek yo first the enjoyments of time
and sense, and all other things, that arc needful to your well being, shall
be added over and above. From these two opposite principles results
that entire contrariety, which has been observed in all ages, between
those who are laying up treasures upon earth, and those who have set
their atfections upon things that are above. Happy are the faithful, and
doubly happy the pastors, who, constantly imitating the great apostle,
according to their several vocations, pray and labour at the same time,
both for their daily bread, and the bread of eternal life ! In thus observ-
ing the twofold command of Moses and of Christ, some reasonable hope
may be entertained, that their good works will at length overcome the
aversion of their enemies, as those of the first Christians overcame the
deep-rooted prejudices of the heathen world.
TRAIT XXIX.
The respect Jie mmiifcsted for tlie holy estate of malr'mony, while Christian
•prudence engaged him to live in a state of celibacy.
Some ministers have carried their disinterestedness to so liigh a pitch,
that they have rcfiised to enter into the marriage state, merely with this
view ; that being free from all superfluous care and expense, they might
consecrate their persons more entirely to the Lord, and their possessions
less reservedly to the support of the poor, whom the\- considered as their
children, and adopted as their heirs. But all pastors are not called to
follow these rare examples of abstinence and disinterested piety.
When we examine into the life of a celebrated man, we generally
hiquire whether he passed his days in a state of marriage or celibacy,
and what it was that determined his choice to the one or the other of
these states. Such an inquiiy is peculiarly necessary with respect to
St. Paul, as many of the faithful, in the earliest ages of the Church, de-
luded by the amiable appearance ol' celibacy, embraced the monastic
life, — a state to which the clergy imd the religious of the Romish Church
still dedicate themselves : whence those disgraceful accusations which
divers philosophers have preferred against the Christian rchgion, as
destructive of society in its very origin, which is tlie conjugal bond. But
leaving the reveries of legend, if we seek for Clirislianity in the pure
Gospel of Christ, we shall find this accusation to be totally groundless:
since one view of the Christian Legislator, in publishing that Gospel,
was to strengthen the ruiptial tie, by declaring that an immodest glance
is a species of adultery, by revoking the {)ermission formerly gi^ en to,
the husband to put away his wife for any temporary cause of dissatis-
faction, and by absolutely forbiclding divorce, except in case of adultery.
62 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
Matt. V, 28, 32. Nay, so far did this Divine Lawgiver carry his con-
descension in honour of the marriage state, that he was present at one
of those solemn feasts, which were usually held upon such occasions,
attended by the holy virgin and his twelve disciples. And not content
with giving this public testimony of his respect for so honourable an
institution, he accompanied it with the first miraculous proof of his
almighty power.
St. Paul, it is true, passed the whole of his hfe in a state of celibacy ;
but he never enjoined that state to any person : and if he occasionally
recommended it to some, to whom it was indificrent whether they mar-
ried or not, it was chiefly on account of the distress and persecution of
those times, 1 Cor. vii, 26. To engage the most pious persons ordina-
rily to live in a state of celibacy, is not less contrary to nature and reason,
than to the spirit of the Gospel. This is to oppose the propagation of
the best Christians, and the most faithful subjects. It is to suppose that
those persons who join example to precept in the cause of virtue, and
who, for that very reason, are pecuharly qualified for the education of
children, are the only persons in the world who ought to have none.
The absurdity of this opinion constrained the Apostle Paul pubUcly to
combat it, by declaring to the Hebrews, that " marriage, and the bed
undefiled, are honourable among all men," Heb. xiii, 4. He farther
aflSrmed, that " a bishop must be the husband of one Avife, one that ruleth
well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity,"
1 Tim. iii, 2, 4. And if he wished the Corinthians to continue in the
state which he himself had chosen, on account of the peculiar advantages
accruing from it, at that season, to the persecuted members of the Chris-
tian Church : " nevertheless, to avoid fornication," he counselled, that
" eveiy man should have his own wife," and " every woman her own
husband," 1 Cor. vii, 2. " I will," saith he to Timothy, " that the younger
women marry, bear children, and guide the house," 1 Tim. v, 14. And
lastly, he cautioned the same Christian bishop against tlie error of those
who, in the last times, should " depart from the faith, givuig heed to the
doctrines of devils," and " forbidding to marry ;" earnestly exhorting his
young successor to guard the brethren against a doctrine so fatal to the
Church in particular, and so destnictive of society in general, 1 Tim.
iv, 1, 6.
But it may be urged — If St. Paul really entertained such high ideas
of marriage, and represented it as the most perfect emblem of that strict
union which subsists between Christ and his Church, why did he not
recommend it by his example ? I answer — Although St. Paul was ne\'er
married, yet he expressly asserted his right (o that privilege, as well as
St. Peter, and some others of the apostles, 1 Cor. ix, 5, intimating, at
the same time, that prudence and charit}^ inclined him to tbrcgo his right
in that respect. When a man is perpetually called to travel from place to
place, prudence requires that he should not encumber himself with those
domestic cares, which must occasion many unavoidable delays in the
prosecution of his business. Or, if he derives his maintenance from the
generosity of the poor, charity shovdd constrain him to burden them as
little as possible. This zealous apostle could not prevail upon himself
to expose a woman and cliildren to those innumerable dangers which he
was constantly obliged to encounter. The lirst peril, from which he
THK PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 63
made his escape, was that which compelled him to descend from the
wall of Damascus in a basket. Now, if a family had shared with him
the same danger, what an addition would they have made to his afflic-
tion and care ! Is it not evident that, in such circumstances, every man
who is not obliged to many, from reasons either physical or moral, is
called to imitate the example of this disinterested apostle, from the same
mVives of prudence and charitv? This indefatigable preacher, always
on a mission, judged it advisable to continue in a single state to the end
of his days. But, had he been fixed in a particular chui'ch ; had he
there felt how much it concerns a minister neither to tempt others nor
be tempted himself; and had he known how much assistance a modest,
provident, and pious woman is capable of affording a pastor, by inspect-
ing the women of his flock — he would then probably have advised every
resident pastor to enter into the marriage state, provided they should fix
upon regenerate persons, capable of edifjdng the Church, in imitation of
Phebe, a deaconess of Cenchrea and Persis, who was so dear to St. Paul
on account of her labours in the Lord, Rom. xvi, 1, 12 ; or copying the
example of those four virgins, the daughters of Philip, who edified, ex-
horted, and consoled the faithful by their pious discourses, Acts xxi, 9.*
The Christian doctrine on this point may be reduced to the following
heads. 1. In times of great trouble, and grievous persecutions, the fol-
lowers of Christ should abstain from marriage, unless obliged thereto by
particular and powerful reasons, Matt, xxiv, 19. 2. The faithful, who
mean to embrace the nuptial state, should be careful, on no account to
connect themselves with any persons except such as are remarkable for
their seriousness and piety, 2 Cor. vi, 14. 3. If a man is married betbre
he is converted ; or if, being converted, he is deceived in choosing a
woman, whom he supposes to be pious, but discovers to be worldly ;
instead of separating himself from his wife, in either of these cases, he
is rather called to give all diligence in bringing her acquainted with the
truth as it is in Jesus, 1 Cor. vii, 16. 4. Missionaries ought not to
marry, unless there be an absolute necessity. 5. A bishop, or resident
* The attention of ministers, in choosing sueh companions as may not hinder
their success in the ministry, is of so great importance, that in some countries
the conduct of a pastor's wife, as well as that of the pastor himself, is supposed
either to edify or mislead the flock. Nay, the minister himself is frequently con-
demned for the faults of his wife. Thus, in the Protestant Churches of Hungary
they degrade a pastor whose wife indulges herself in cards, dancing, or any other
public amusement, which bespeaks the gayety of a lover of the world, rather than
the gravity of a Christian matron. This severity springs from the supposition
that the woman, having promised obedience to her husband, can do nothing but
what he either directs or approves. Hence they conclude, that example having
a greater influence than precept, the wife of a minister, if siie is inclined to the
world, will preach worldly compliance with more success iiy her conduct, than
her husband can preach the renunciation of the world by the most solemn dis-
courses. And the incredulity of the stumbled flock will always be the consequence
of that unhappy inconsistency, which is observable between the serious instruc-
tions of a well-disposed minister, and the trifling conduct of a woman with whom
he is so intimately connected. Nor arc tlicre wanting ai>ostolic ordinances suf-
ficient to support the exercise of this severe discipline : — Even so must their loives
he grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the bishop or deacon
be one that ruleth well his own house, having his children, and everj' part of his
family, in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own
house, how shall he take care of the Church of God ? 1 Tim. iii, \, 5, 11.
64 THE PORIRAIT OF ST. PACt.
pastor, is usually called to the marriage state, 1 Tim. iii, 12 ; Tit. i, 6.
Lastly, a minister of the Gospel, who is able to live in a state of celibacy
" for the kingdom of heaven's sake," that he may have no other care,
except that of preaching the (.Tospel, and attending upon the members
of Christ's mystical body ; such a one is undoubtedly called to continue
in a single state. For having obtained the gift of continence, he is dis-
pensed from carnally giving children to the Church, because he begets
her spiritual sons and daughters. And such a one, instead of being
honoured as the head of a particular household, should be counted
worthy of double honour, as a spiritual father in his Lord's family,
Matt, xix, 12.
TRAIT XXX.
The ardour of his love.
The passions are the springs by which we are usually actuated.
Reason alone is too weak to put us in motion so often as duty requires ;
but when love, that sacred passion of the faithful, conies in to its assist-
ance, we are then sweetly constrained to act in conformity to the various
relations we sustain in civil and rehgious life. Thus the God of nature
has rooted in the hearts of mothers a fond affection, which keeps them ■
anxiously attentive to the wants of their children. And thus the Spirit
of God implants in the bosom of a good pastor that ardent charity
which excites him to watch over his flock with the most affectionate and
unwearied attention. The love of a father to his son, the attachment of
a nurse to her foster child, the tender affection of a mother to her infant,
are so many emblems employed in the Holy Scriptures to set forth the
sweetness and ardour of that Christian love which animates the true
minister to the performance of his several duties. " You know," says
St. Paul, " how Ave exhorted, and comforted, and charged eveiy one of
you, as a father doth his children : we were gentle among you, even as
a nurse cherisheth her children. So, being aiTectionately desirous of
you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God
only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us," 1 Thess.
ii, 7, 8, 11. " God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the
bowels of Jesus Christ," Phil, i, 8. " Receive us ; for ye are in our
hearts to die and live with you," 2 Cor. vii, 2, 3. Worldly pastors can
form no idea of that ardent charity which dictates such benevolent lan-
guage, and accompanies it with actions which demonstrate its sincerity.
This is one of those mysterious things which are perfectly incompre-
hensible to the natural man, and which frequently appear to him as the
extremest folly. This fer\'ont love improves us into new creatures, by
the sweet influence it maintains over all our tempers. This holy passion
deeply interests the faitliful pastor in the concerns of his iellow Christians,
and teaches him to rejoice in the benefits they receive, as though his
own prosperity were inseparably connected with theirs. " I thank my
God," writes the great apostle to thfe benefactor of his brethren, "making
mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith,
which tliou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward afl saints; that the
communication of thy faith may become effectual, by the acknowledging
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 65
of every good thing whicli is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have
great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints
are refreshed by thee, brother," Phil, v, 4-7. The sorrow and the
joy of this zealous imitator of Christ were generally influenced by the
varying states of the faithful. When any, who had once run well, were
seen loitering by the way, or starting aside from the path of life, he
expressed the most sincere affliction on their account. There are some,
" of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they arc the enemies of the cross of Christ," Phil, iii, 18. On the other
hand, the progress of believers was as marrow to liis bones, and as the
balsam of life to his heart : " We are glad when we are weak, and ye
are strong : and this also we wish, even your perfection," 2 Cor. xiii, 9.
" My brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, stand
fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God without rebuke, holding forth the word of life, that I may
rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured
in vain," Phil, iv, 1 ; ii, 15, 16.
Reader, whoever thou art, permit me to ask thee an important ques-
tion. Art thou acquamted with that ardent charity that influenced the
Apostle Paul ? If his Christian love was like a rapid and deep river ; is
thine at least like a rumiing stream whose waters fail not ? Do thy joys
and thy sorrows flow in the same chamiel, and tend to the same point, as
the sanctified passions of this benevolent man ? Relate the chief causes
of thy satisfaction and thy displeasure, and I will tell thee whether,
like Denias, thou art a child of this present world, or a fellow citizen of
heaven, with St. Paul.*
TRAIT XXXI.
His generous fears and succeeding consolations.
When the Church is threatened with a storm, the worldly pastor has
no fears except for himself and liis relations. But the true minister, if
he be at all disquieted with fear, when the Lord's vessel is driven with
the winds, or appears to be in danger through the indiscreet conduct of
false or urJoving brethren, he feels much less for his own safety than for
the security of his companions in tribulation. He fears especially for
the weak of the flock, and for those of the faithful who arc exposed to
violent temptation. And these generous fears, which equally prove his
holy zeal and brotherly love, without robbing him of all his joy, aflbrd
him frequent opportunities of exercising his faith, his resignation, and
his hope. " We are troubled," saith St. Paul, " on every side ; without
were fightings, within were fears. I fear, lest by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through liis subtilty, so your minds should be cor-
rupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. I fear, lest when I come, I
shall not find you such as I would," 2 Cor. vii, 5 ; xi, 3 ; xii, 20. " When
we could no longer forbear, we sent Timothy to establish you, and to comfort
* Have you more joy when your preaching augments your income, than when
you observe a wandering sheep conducted into the right way ? Then conclude
that you preach more for mammon than for Christ. — M. Roques.
Vol. IIL 5
66 THE POKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflic
tions : for yourselves know that we are appointed thereto. For verily,
when we were with you, we told you before, that we should suffer tribu-
lation ; even as it came to pass. For this cause, when I could no longer
forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter should
have tempted you, and our labour be in vain," 1 Thess. iii, 1, 5.
Though these " fightings without," and these " fears within," are
always painful to the flesh, yet they are as constantly beneficial to the soul.
If they subject the true minister for a season to the keenest affliction,
they prepare him in the end for " strong consolation." Observe the
manner in which the great apostle expresses himself upoa this point :
" We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came
to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, inso-
much that we despaired even of life. We had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not tmst in ourselves, but in God which raiseth
the dead : who delivereth us from so great a death, and doth deliver : in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us," 2 Cor. i, 8, 10. "I would
ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me
have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel ; so that my bonds
in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places ; and many
of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much
more bold to speak the word without fear," Phil, i, 12, 14. Hence,
" we glory in tribulations : knowing that tribulation worketh patience ;
and patience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope maketh n(rt
ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us," Rom. v, 3, 5. " Blessed be God,
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort ; who comfortcth us
in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in
any trouble, by the comfort wherewith wc ourselves are comforted of
God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also aboundeth by Christ," 2 Cor. i, 2, 5.
If those who are honoured with a commission to publish the Gospel
were fully convinced how gracious and powerful a Master they serve,
instead of being alarmed at the sight of those labours and dangers which
await them in the exercise of their ministry, they would stand prepared
to run all hazards in his service ; as courageous soldiers who fight under
the eye of a generous prince, are ready to expose their lives for the aug-
mentation of his glory. Can it become good pastors to manifest less
concern for the salvation of their brethren, than mercenary warriors for
the destruction of their prince's foes ? And if the Romims generously
exposed themselves to death in preserving the life of a fellow citizen, for
the trifling reward of a civic wreath, how much greater magnanimity
should a Christian pastor discover in rescuing the souls of liis brethren
from a state of perdition, for the glorious reward of a never-fading
crown ?
TUB PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 6"?
TRAIT XXXII.
The grand subject of his glorying, and the evangelical manner in which lie
maintained his superiority over false apostles.
The disposition of a faithful pastor is, in every respect, diametrically
opposite to that of a worldly minister. If you observe the conversation
of an ecclesiastic who is influenced by the spirit of the world, you will
hear him intimating either that he has, or that he would not be soriy to
have, the precedency among his brethren, to live in a state of affluence
and splendgur, and to secure to himself such distinguished appointments
as would increase both his dignity and his income, without making any
extraordinary addition to his pastoral labours. You will find him anxious
to be admitted into the best companies, and occasionally forming parties
for the chase or some other vain amusement. Wliile the true pastor
cries out in the self-renouncing language of the great apostle : " God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world," Gal. vi, 14.
If the minister who is really formed to preside in the Church, were
singled out from among his brethren, and placed in an apostolic chair,
he would become the more humble for his exaltation. If such a one
were slighted and vilified by false apostles, he would not appeal, for the
honour of his character, to the superiority of his talents, his rank, or his
mission ; but rather to the superiority of his labours, his dangers, and his
sufferings. Thus, at least, St. Paul defended the dignity of his character
against the unjust insinuations of his adversaries in the ministry : " Are
they ministers of Christ ? (I speak as a fool) I am more." But in what
manner did he attempt to prove this? Was it by saying, I have a
richer benefice than the generality of ministers ; I am a doctor, a pro-
fessor of divinity, I bear the mitre, and dwell in an episcopal palace ?
No : instead of tliis he used the following apostolic language : " In
labours I am more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in deaths oft. In journeyings often, in perils in the city, in
perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils by the heathen,
in perils among false brethren : in weariness and painfulness, in watch-
iugs often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the Churclies. Who is weak and I am not weak ? Who is
offended and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory in the
things which concern mine infirmities," 2 Cor. xi, 23-30. " From
henceforth let no man trouble me : for I bear in my body the marks of
the Lord Jesus," Gal. vi, 17. Such are the appeals of holy prelates.
But for a man to glory at having obtained a deanery, a professor's chair,
or a bishopric, is in reality to boast of his unfaithfulness to his vocation,
and to prove himself unworthy of the rank to which he has been inju,
diciously raised.
Ye who preside over the household of God, learn of the Apostle Paul
to manifest your real superiority. Surpass your inferiors in humility,
in charity, in zeal, in your painful labours for the salvation of sinners,
in your invincible courage to encounter those dangers which threaten
your brethren, and by your unwearied patience in bearing those perse-
THE POKTltAlT OF ST. PAUL.
cations which the faithful disciples of Christ are perpetually called to
Qndure from a cori-upt world. Thus shall you honourably replace the
first Christian prelates, and happily restore the Church to its primitive
dignity.
TRAIT XXXIII.
His patience and fortitude under the severest trials.
" Charity is not easily provoked," but on the contrary " thinketh no
evil." Full of patience and meekness, Christ distinguished himself by
his abundant love to those from whom he received the most cruel treat-
ment. Thus also the ministers of Christ are distinguished, who, as they
are more or less courageous and indefatigable in the work of the minis-
try, are enabled to adopt the following declaration of St. Paul with more
or less propriety : " Being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer
it ; being defamed, we entreat : we are made as the filth of the world,
and are as the oifscouring of all things unto this day," 1 Cor. iv, 12, 13.
•' Giving no oliencc in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed : but
in all tilings approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much
patience, in afflictions, hi necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprison-
ments, in tumults, m labours, in watchings, in fastings ; by pureness, by
knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love
unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of
rigliteousness on the right hand and on the left," which enables us to
attack error and vice, while it shields us from their assaults ; " by honour
and dishonour ; by evil report and good report ; as deceivers, and yet
true ; as unknown, and yet well known ; as dying, and behold we live ;
as chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing ; as
poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things," 2 Cor. vi, 3, 10.
Far from being discouraged by the trials which befall him, the true
minister is disposed in such circumstances to pray with the greater fer-
vency ; and according to the ardour aud consttmcy of his prayers, such
are the degrees of fortitude and patience to which he attains. " We
have not received," sailh St. Paul, "the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby Ave cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself," amidst all our distresses, "beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Likewise the Spirit
also hclpetli our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for
as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groan-
ings which cannot be uttered," Rom. viii, 15, 26. "I besought the
Lord thrice, that this trial might depart from me. And he said unto me,
My grace is sufficient lor thee : for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Tlicrefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake : for when I
am weak, then am I strong," 2 Cor. xii, 8-10. "I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me," Phil, iv, 13.
What an advantage, what an honour is it, to labour in the service of
so gracious and powerful a Master ! By the power with which he con-
trols the world, he overrules all things " for good to them that love him."
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAFL. <59
Their most pungent sorrows are succeeded by peculiar consolations ;
the reproach of the cross prepares them for the honours of a crown ;
and the flames, m which they are sometimes seen to blaze, become like
that chariot of fire which conveyed Elijah triumphantly away from the
fury of Jezebel.
TRAIT XXXTV.
His modest firmmss before magistrates.
Supported by a strong persuasion that God and tiiith are on his side,
the faithful minister is carried above all those disheartening fears which
agitate the hearts of worldly pastors. Depending upon the truth of that
solemn prediction, " They will deliver you up to the council, and ye
shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony
against them and the Gentiles ;" he expects in limes of persecution to
appear before magistjates, and possibly before kings, for the cause of
Christ and his Gospel. Nor is he affected at such a prospect. Rely-
ing on the promise of that compassionate Redeemer, who once appeared
for liim before Annas and Caiaphas, Herod and Pontius Pilate, without
anxiously premeditating what he shall answer, and I'esting assured that
wisdom shall be given him in every time of need, he cries out with the
holy determination of the psalmist, " I will speak of thy testimonies also
before kings, and will not be ashamed," Psalm cxix, 46.
When he is brought as a malefactor before the judge, while his
accusers, actuated by a malicious zeal, agree to say, "We have found
this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among the people," and
one of the ringleaders of a new and dangerous sect ; he justifies himself
by answering. The witnesses who appear against me this day, neither
found me trampling under foot the authority of my superiors, nor sowing
the seeds of sedition among the people ; " neither can they prove the
things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess, that after the
way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believ-
ing all things which are written in the law and the prophets ; and have
hope toward God, which they themselves allow, that there shall be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." And supposing
his accusers are not only deists, but professors of the Christian faith, he
will add. This also I confess, that in conformit}^ to those principles, which
pretended philosophers term superstitious, and which lukewarm Chris-
tians call enthusiastic, " I believe" not only "in God the Father Almighty,"
but also in Jesus Christ his only Son, whom I acknowledge to be " King
of kings, and Lord of lords, and who, after having suffered for our sins,
rose again for our justification." Farther : I joyfully subscribe to that
confession of faith, which is frequently in your own mouths, " I believe
in the Holy Ghost," who regenerates and sanctifies every true member
of "the holy catholic Church :" and I participate with those members the
common advantages of our most holy faith, which are an humble con-
sciousness of "the forgiveness of sins," a lively hope of "the resurrec-
tion of the lx)dy," and a sweet anticipation of " everlasting life." " And
herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence
toward God and toward men," Acts xxiv, 5, 16. If liis judge, already
70 THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL.
prejudiced against him, should unbecomingly join issue with his accusers,
and charge him with extravagance and fanaticism ; he will answer after
St. Paul, with all due respect, " I am not mad : but speak forth the words
of truth and soberness. And I would to God, that not only thou, but
also all who hear me this day were altogether such as I am, except
these bonds," Acts xxvi, 24, 29.
After a pastor has had experience of these difficult trials, he is then
in a situation to confirm younger ministers in the manner of St. Paul :
" I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. At my
first answer no man stood with me ; but all men forsook me : notwith-
standing, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me : that by me the
preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear
the Gospel : and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the
Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto
his heavenly kingdom : to whom be glory for ever and over," 2 Tim. i,
12; iv, 16, 18.
Behold the inconvenience and dangers to which not only Christian
pastors, but all who follow the steps of the Apostle Paul, will be exposed
in every place, where the bigoted or incredulous occupy the first posts
in Church or state ! And whether we are called to endure torments,
or only to suffer reproach in the cause of truth, let us endeavour to sup-
port the sufferings that shall fall to our lot, with that resolution and
meekness, of which St. Paul and his adorable Master have left us such
memorable examples.
TRAIT XXXV.
His courage in consoling his iierseculed hrelhren.
Persuaded that " all who will live godly in Christ Jesus," and par-
ticularly his ministers, "shall suffer persecution," 2 Tim. iii, 12, the
good pastor looks for opposition from every quarter ; and whenever he
suffers for the testimony he bears to the truths of the Gospel, he suffers
not only with resolution, but with joy.
The more the god of this degenerate world exalts himself in opposi-
tion to truth, the more he disposes every sincere heart for the reception
of it. The Gospel is that everlasting rock upon which the Church is
founded, and against which the gates of hell can never prevail ; and
though this rock is assailed by innumerable hosts of visible and invisible
enemies, yet their repeated assaults serve only to demonstrate, with
increasing certainty, its unshaken firmness and absolute impenetrabihty.
A clear sight of the sovereign good, as presented to us in the Gospel, is
sufficient to make it universally desirable. The veil of inattention,
however, conceals, in a great measure, this sovereign good, and the
mists of prejudice entirely obscure it. But by the inhuman conduct of
the persecutors of Christianity, their false accusations, their secret plots,
and their unexampled cruelty, these mists are frequently dissipated, and
these veils rent in twain from the top to the bottom. En-or is by these
means unwittingly exposed to the view of the world ; while every im-
partial observer, attracted by the charms of persecuted truth, examines
The portrait of st. patti.. 71
snto its nature, acknowledges its excellence, and at length triumphs in
the possession of that inestiniahle pearl which he once despised. Thus
the tears of the faithful, and the hlood of confessors, have been generally
found to scatter and nourish the seed of the kingdom.
Ye zealous defenders of truth ! let not the severest persecutions alarm
your apprehension, or weaken your confidence, since every trial of this
kind must necessai'ily terminate in your own advantage, as well as in
the estabhshment and glory of the Christian faith. Error, always
accompanied with contradictions, and big with absurd consequences,
will shortly appear to be supported by no other prop than that of preju-
dice or passion, or the despotism of a usurped authority, which renders
itself odious by the very means employed for its support. The more
the partizans of every false doctrine sound the alarm against you, the
more they resemble a violent multitude opposing the efforts of a few who
are labouring to extinguish the fire that consumes their neighbours'
habitations ; the diflerent conduct of the one and the other must, sooner
or later, manifest the incendiaries. Error may be compared to a vessel
of clay, and truth to a vase of massy gold. In vaui is calumny en-
deavourmg to render the truth contemptible by overheaping it with every
thing that is abominable ; in vain would prejudice give error an amiable
appearance by artfully concealing its defects : for whenever the hand of
persecution shall furiously hurl the latter against the former, the solid
gold will sustain the shock unhurt, while the varnished clay shall be
dashed in pieces. The experience, however, of seventeen ages has not
been sufficient to demonstrate to persecutors a truth so evident ; nor are
there wantmg inexperienced believers in the Church who are ready to
call it in question, and who, " when persecution ariseth because of the
word," are unhappily observed to lose their Christian resolution. But,
" why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing, the
kmgs of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord, and against his anointed? He tliat dwellcth in heaven shall
laugh them to scorn," and make their malice serve to the accomplish-
ment of his great designs, Psalm ii, 1-4.
Thus the Jews, in crucifymg Christ, contributed to lay the grand
foundation of the Christian Church ; and afterward, by persecuting the
Apostle Paul to death, gave liim an opportunity of bearing the torch of
truth to Rome, and even into the palaces of its emperors. And it was
from Rome itself, as from the jaws of a devouring lion, that he comforted
the faithful, who were ready to faint at his afflictions, and encouraged
them to act in conformity to their glorious vocation. " I suffer trouble
as an evil doer, even unto bonds ; but the word of God is not bound.
Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. It is a faith-
ful saying ; for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him ; if
we suffer, we shall also reign with him ; if we deny him, he will also
deny us. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner ; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the
Gospel, according to the power of God, who hath called us according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
iln'ough the Gospel. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher and aii
72 THE PORTKAIT OP ST. PAUL.
apostle, for the which cause I also suffer these things 5 nevcrtlieless I
am not ashamed. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ," 2 Tim. ii, 9-12 ; i, 8-12 ; ii, 3.
Happy is the faithful minister of Christ amid all the severe afflictions
to which he is sometimes exposed ! Though "troubled on every side,"
yet he is " not distressed ;" though " perplexed," yet " not in despair ;"
though " persecuted," yet " not forsaken ;" though " cast down," yet
" not destroyed." All the violent attacks of his enemies must finally
contribute to the honour of his triumph, while their flagrant injustice
gives double lustre to the glorious cause in which he suffers.
TRAIT XXXVI.
His humble confidence in jxroducing the seals of his ministry.
A PASTOR must, sooner or later, convert sumers, if he sincerely and
earnestly calls them to repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, though filled with indignation against sin,
with compassion toward the impenitent, and with gratitude to Clirist, he
should, lil^e St. Paul, in proportion to his strength, wrestle with God by
prayer, with sinners by exhortation, and with the flesh by abstinence ;
yet, even then, as much unequal to that apostle as that apostle Avas une-
(jual to his Master, he may reasonably despair of frequently beholduig
the happy eflects of his evangeUcal labours. But if he cannot adopt
the following apostolic language, " Thanks be unto God, who always
causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the sa\our of his
knowledge by us in every place ;" he will at least be able to say in his
little sphere, " We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that
are saved, and in them that perish ; to the one we are the savour of death
unto death ; and to the other the savour of life unto life," 2 Cor. ii, 14-16.
If he has not, like St. Paul, planted new vines, he is engaged with
ApoUos in watering those which are already planted ; he is rooting up
some withered cumberers of the ground, he is lopping off some unfruittul
branches, and propping up those tender sprigs which the tempest has
beaten down.
He would be the most unhappy of all f lithfiil ministei's, had he not
some in his congregation to whom he might with propriety address him-
self in the followmg terms : — " Do we need epistles of commendation
to you 1 Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, minis-
tered not by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living
God ; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of thii heart," 2 Cor.
iii, 1-3. " Are not ye my work in the Lord ? If I be not an apostle
imto others, yet doubtless I am to you ; for the seal of mine apostleship
are ye in the Lord. For though ye have ten thousand instructers in
Christ, yet have ye not many fathers ; for in Christ Jesus have I begot-
ten you through the Gospel," 1 Cor. ix, 2 ; iv, 15.
When a minister of the Gospel, after lalrouring for several years in
the same place, is unacquainted with any of his flock, to whom he might
modestly hold the preceding language, it is to be feared that he has
laboured too mucli like the generality of pastors in the present day ;
since " the word of God," when delivered with earnestness and without
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 73
adulteration, is usually " quick and powerful, and sharper llian an}' two-
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow," Heb. iv, 12. " Ho that hath my word,
let him speak my word faithfully. What is chaff" to the wheat ? saith
the Lord. Is not my word hke a fire ; and like a hammer that breaketli
the rock in pieces ? Behold, I am against them that cause my people
to err by their lies and by their lightness : therefore they shall not profit
this people at all, saith the Lord," Jer. xxiii, 28-32.
Those ministers who are anxious so to preach and so to conduct
themselves as neither to trouble the peace of the formal, nor to alami
the fears of the impenitent, are undoubtedly the persons peculiarly
alluded to in the following solemn passage of Jeremiah's prophecy : —
" Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets ; all my bones
shake because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.
For both prophet and priest are profane ; yea, in my house have I found
their wickedness, saith the Lord. They walk in lies, [either actually
or doctrinally,] they strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none
doth return from his wickedness. From the prophets of Jerusalem is
profaneness gone forth into all the land. They speak a vision of their
own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. I^iey say unto them
that [secretly] despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and
they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own
heart, No evil shall come upon you. I have not sent these prophets, yet
they ran : I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they
had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words,
then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the
evil of their doings," Jer. xxiii, 9-22.
Behold the reason why nothing can so much afflict a faithful minister
as not to behold, from time to time, unfeigned conversions effected
among the people by means of his ministry. The husbandman, after
liaving dihgently prepared and plentifully sowed his fields, is sensibly
afllicted when he sees the hope of his harvest swept away at once by
a furious storm ; but he feels not so lively a sorrow as the charitable
pastor who, after ha\'ing liberally scattered around him the seeds of
wisdom and piety, beholds his parish still overrun with the noxious weeds
of vanity an4 vice. If Nabals are still intoxicated ; if Cains are still
implacable ; if Ananiases are still deceitful, and Sapphiras still prepared
(o favour their deceit ; if Marthas are still cumlxircd with earthly cares ;
if Dinahs are still exposing themselves to temptation, even to the detri-
ment of their honour, and to the loss of that little ix-lish which thev once
discovered for piety ; and if the former still continue to approach God
with their hps while their hearts are far from him — a good pastor, at the
sight of these things, is pierced through with many sorrows, and feels,
in a degree, what Elijah felt, when, overburdened with fatigue and
chagrin, " he sat down under a juniper tree, and said. It is enough,
now, O Lord, take away my life : for 1 am not better than my fathers,"
1 Kings xix, 4.
Indifference, in a matter of so great importance, is one of the surest
marks by which an unworthy pastor may be discerned. Of what con-
sequence is it to a worldly minister whether the ffock alxtut vvhicli he
takey so httle trouble is composed of sheep or goats / I le seeks not s.i
74 THE PORTRAIT OP ST. PAUL.
much to benefit liis people, as to discharge the mere exterior duties of
his office in such a way as may not incur the censure of his superiors
in the Church, who, possibly, are not a whit less lukewarm than himself.
And if a tolerable party of his unclean flock do but disguise themselves
three or four times in a year, for the purpose of making their appear-
ance at the sacramental table, he is perfectly satisfied with the good
order of his parish, especially when the most detestable vices, such as
extortion, theft, adultery, or murder, are not openly practised in it.
This outward kind of decency, which is so satisfactory to the worldly
minister, and which is ordmarily effected by the constraining force of the
civil laws, rather than by the truths of the Gospel, affords the faithful
pastor but little consolation. He is solicitous to see liis people hunger-
ing and thirsting after righteousness, working out their salvation with
fear and trembling, and engaging in all the duties of Christianity with
as much eagerness as the children of the world pursue their shameful
pleasures or trifling amusements ; and if he has not yet enjoyed this
satisfaction, he humbles himself before God, and anxiously inquires
after the reason of so great an unhappiness. He is conscious that if
his ministry be not productive of good fruit, the sterihty of the word
must flow from one or other of the following causes : either he does
not publish the Gospel in its full latitude and purity, in a manner suffi-
ciently animating, or in simplicity and faith. Perhaps he is not careful
to second his zealous discourses by an exemplary conduct : perhaps he
is negligent in imploring the blessing of God upon his ])ublic and private
labours ; or probably his hearers may have conceived inveterate preju-
dices against him, which make them inattentive to his most solemn
exhortations ; so that, instead of being received among them as an am-
bassador of Christ, he can apply to himself the proverb formerly cited
by liis rejected Master, " No prophet is accepted in his own country,"
where he is accustomed to be seen without ceremony, and heard without
curiosity. If the fault appears to be on his own side, he endeavours to
apply the most speedy and efficacious remedies, redoubling his public
labours, and renewing his secret supplications with more than ordinary
fervour of spirit. But if, after repeated trials, he is convinced that his
want of success chiefly flows from the invincible hatred of liis flock to
the truths of the Gospel, or from the sovereign contern^t which his
parishionei's manifest both to his person and labours, he is then justified
in following the example of his unerring Master, who refused to exercise
his ministry in those places where prejudice had locked up the hearts
of the people against the reception of his evangelical precepts.
When, in such a situation, a pastor is fearful of following the example
of our Lord, lest he should be lefl destitute of a maintenance, in how
deplorable a state must he drag through the wearisome days of a useless
life ! If every sincere Christian is ready to take up his cross, to quit
friends and possessions, yea, to renounce life itself, on account of the
Gospel, can wc consider that minister as a man really consecrated to
the service of Christ, who has not resolution sufficient to give up a
house, a garden, and a salary, when the welfare of his own soul and the
interests of the Church require such a sacrifice ?
When a preacher of the Gospel counts less upon the promises of his
Master than upon the revenues of his benefice, may we not reasonably
The portrait of st. patjl. 75
conclude, that he is walking in the footsteps of Balaam, rather than in
those of St. Paul ? And is it for such a man to declare the statutes of
the Lord, or to recite the words of his covenant? Psalm 1, 16. Is he
not attempting to publish, before he eftectually believes, the truths of
the Gospel ? And has he not a front of brass, when, with the dispositions
of a Demas, he mounts the pulpit, to celebrate the bounty of that God
who supplies the wants of " sparrows, who feeds the young ravens that
call upon liim," opening liis hand and filling all things living with plen-
teousness ? Let such a one consider, that the character of a virtuous
preceptor, or an honest tradesman, is abundantly more honourable than
that of a mercenary priest.
In general, it may be reasonably supposed, that if a pastor faith-
fully exercise his ministry in any place, to which he has been appointed
by the providence of God, he will either benefit those among whom he
is called to labour, or his hardened hearers will, at length, unite to drive
him from among them, as the inhabitants of Nazaretli forced Jesus away
from their ungratefiU city. Or if he should not be forcibly removed
from his post, as was the case of our Lord in the country of the Gada-
renes, yet believing it incumbent upon him to retire from such a part,
he will seek out some other place in his Master's vineyard, that shall
better repay the pains of cultivation, whatever such a removal may cost
him in the judgment of the world. And, uideed, such a mode of con-
duct was positively prescribed by our Lord to his first ministers, in the
following solemn charge : " Into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter,
inquire who in it is worthy. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor
hear your words ; when [slighted and reproached by its unworthy
inhabitants,] ye [are constrained to] depart out of that house or city,
shake ofl" the dust of your feet," as a testimony against those who prefer
the maxims of the world before the precepts of the Gospel, Matt.
X, 11, 14.
If any pastor refuse to adopt this method of proceeding, after patience
has had its perfect work ; if he still fear to give up an establishment,
as the sons-in-law of Lot were afraid of forsaking their possessions in
Sodom, he then acts in direct opposition to the command of Christ ; he
obstinately occupies the place of a minister, against wliom, very proba-
bly, less prejudice might be entertained, and whose ministry, of conse-
quence, would be more likely to produce some salutary eftect ; he loses
his time in casting pearls before swine ; and instead of converting his
pai'ishioners, he only aggravates the condemnation due to their ob-
duracy.
The faithful pastor, however, is not soon chscouraged, thougli he
beholds no beneficial consequences of his ministry. His unbounded
charity suffers, hopes, and labours long, without fainting. The more
sterile the soil appears, which he is called to cultivate, the more he
waters it, both with his tears and with the sweat of his brow ; the more
he implores for it the dew of heaven, and the influences of that Divine
Sun which spreads light and Ufe through eveiy part of the Church. It
is not, therefore, (let it be repeated,) till after patience has had its perfect
work, that a conscientious minister takes the final resolution of quitting
liis post, in order to seek out some other situation, in wliich his labours
may be attended with the greater profit.
76 THE POHTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
TRAIT XXXVII
His readiness to seal with his blood the truths of the Gospel.
He who is not yet prepared to die for his Lord, has not yet received
that "perfect love" which " casteth out fear:" and it is a matter of
doubt, whether any preaclier is worthy to appear in the pulpit, whose
confidence in the truths of the Gospel is not strong enough to dispose
him, in cei*tain situations, to seal those truths with his blood. If he
really shrink from the idea of dying in the cause of Christianity, is it
for him to publish a Saviour, who is " the resurrection and the life ?"
And may he not be said to play with his conscience, his auditors, and
his God, if, while he is the slave of sin and fear, he presents himself as
a viitness of the salvation of that omnipotent Redeemer, who, " through
death, has destroyed him that had the power of death ;" and who, by
his resurrection, has " delivered them who, through fear of death, were
all their Ufetime subject to bondage?" Heb. ii, 14, 15. Love, in the
language of Solomon, " is strong as death :" but the true minister
glows with that fervent love to Christ and his brethren, which is abun-
dantly stronger than those fears of death which would prevent him, in
times of persecution, from the faithful discharge of his ministerial func-
tions. Such was the love of St. Paul, when he cried out to those who
would have dissuaded him from the dangerous path of duty : " What
mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart ? for I am ready not to be
bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus," Acts xxi, 13. "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto
Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there : save that
the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflic-
tions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my
life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the
ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus," Acts xx, 22-24.
" For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your prayer,
and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest
expectation, that Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by
Ufe or by death. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And if
I be offered upon the sacrifice and sei'vice of your faith, I joy and rejoice
with you all," Phil, i, 19-21 ; ii, 17.
Thus "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep : but he that is
a hireling, and not the shepherd, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the
.sheep, and fleefh ; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep,"
John X, 11, 12. Happy is that Church whose pastor is prepared to
tread in the steps of " the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls !" St.
Paul would not have been ashamed to acknowledge such a one as his
companion and fellow labourer in the work of the Lord.
TRAIT XXXVIII.
77ie sv)€et suspense of his choice between life and death.
WuATt;vF.R desire the faithfid pastor may have to be with Christ, and
to rest from his inbours, yet he endures with joy his separation from
THE PORTnAIT OF ST. PAVL. 77
the person of his Savioixr, through the sacred pleasure he experiences
in the service of his members. The sweet equihbrium in which his
desire was suspended between hfe and death, is tlius expressed by the
Apostle Paul : " We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be
clothed upon with our house which is from heaven : knowing that while
we are at home in the body, we arc absent from the Lord," 2 Cor. v, 1-6.
" Yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better :
nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having
this confidence, I know tliat I shall abide and contmue with you all, for
your furtherance and joy of faith," Phil, i, 22-25.
It is chiefly when believers have the unconquerable love of St. Paul,
" that all things work together for their good." Whether they live, or
whether they die, every occurrence turns out a matter of favour. If
they live, it is that they may support their companions in tribulation,
and insure to themselves a greater reward, by maintaining, for a long
season, the victorious fight of faith. If they die, it is that they may
rest from their labours, and come to a more perfect enjoyment of their
Master's presence. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord :
they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them," Rev. xiv,
13. And in the meantime, blessed are the living who live in the Loi'd :
for they are honourably engaged in those important conflicts which will
daily add to their spiritual strength, and augment the brilhancy of their
final triumph.
TRAIT XXXIX.
The constancy of his zeal and diligence to the end of his course.
LrvFNG or dying, the faithful servant of Christ never acts unworthy
of his character. " Blameless and hamnless in the midst of a crooked
and perverse generation, a child of God without rebuke, he shines," to
the end of his course, " as a light m the world," Phil, ii, 15. He beholds
death, whether it be natural or violent, always without fear, and gene-
rally with pleasure, regarding it as a messenger appointed for his safe
conduct into that glorious state, v/here they rejoice together who have
continued faithful to the end. He is anxious only that his Lord may
find him occupied in the grand business he was commissioned to per-
form : and the nearer his hour approaches, the more earncsf he is that
he may finish his ministry with joy. If he be no longer able to exhort
the brethren in person, he writes to them in the manner of St. Peter :
" I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these
things," the doctrines, precepts, threatenings, and promises of the Gos-
pel, " though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up
by putting you in remembrance ; knowing, that shortly I must put off" this
tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ halh showed me," 2 Pet. i,
12-14. He desires, at such a season, to address the faithful, and
especially young ministers, as St. Paul addressed the Corinthians and
78 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
Timothy : " My beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord ; forasmuch as ye know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord," 1 Cor. xv, 58. "Thou, Timothy,
bast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffer-
ing, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at
Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra ; what persecutions I endured : but out
of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But watch thou in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy
ministry ; for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my de.
parture is at hand," 2 Tim. iii, 10-12 ; iv, 5, 6.
Thus triumphantly St. Paul advanced toward the end of his course.
And thus the faithful minister, pouring fresh oil into his lamp as the
night advances, goes forth to meet his approaching God, whom his faith
already considers as a merciful Judge, and his hope as a munificent
Rewarder.
TRAIT XL.
His triumph over the evils of life, and the terrors of death.
The living faith that sustains a good pastor, or a believer in Christ,
amid all the difficulties and afflictions of life, causes him more especially
to triumph at the approach of death in all its terrific appearances. Ever
filled with an humble confidence in Him, who is the resurrection and
the life, he frequently expresses the assurance of his victorious faith,
at this solemn season, in the manner of St. Paul : " Thanks be imto
God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ," 2 Cor. ii, 14.
" Knowing, that He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also
by Jesus, and shall present us with you : therefore we faint not : but
though our outward man perish, yet the inner man is renewed day by
day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv, 14.
Thus holding up the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the
wicked one, and to receive the piercing arrows of the angel of death,
he expects his last hour without fear or impatience ; cheerfully leaving
the time, the place, the manner, and the circumstances of this conclud-
ing trial, to the disposal of that God whose wisdom, goodness, and power,
are ah combined to insure him the victoiy. Whether he be called by
the providence of God, in a chamber or upon a scaflbld, to taste the
bitter cup of which his Master drank so deeply, he prepares himself to
accompany a sufiering Saviour, encouraged with the hope that he shall
not be tempted above his strength ; and that, if he should suffer and die
with the King of glory, he shall also rise and reign together with hun.
At length the fatal shaft is thrown, — whether by accident, by disease,
or by the hand of an executioner, is of little consequence; the true
Christian, prepared for all events, sees and submits to the order of Pro-
vidence. He receives the mortal blow, cither with humble resignation, or
with holy joy. In the first case, his soul is sweetly disengaged from its
earthly tabernacle, while he breathes out the supplicatory language of
happy Simeon, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart iii peace, for
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 79
mine eyes have seen thy salvation." But in the second case, he leaves the
world in a state of holy triumph, crying out in the fullest assurance of
faith, My persuasion takes place of sight, and vt^ithout the help of vision
I endure, as seeing him that is invisible ; as effectually sustained, as
though, contemplating with Stephen an open heaven, I saw the Son of
man standing at the right hand of God, ready to save and glorify my
soul. Of these two manners of holy dying, the most enviable appears to
have been the lot of St. Paul, if we may judge from the anticipated tri-
umph he describes in several of his epistles, and particularly in the last
he addressed to Timothy from Rome, where he received the crown of
martyrdom. " I desire to depart and to be with Christ, for whom I have
sufiered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable imto his death," Phil, i, 13 ; iii, 8-10.
" I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day : to whom
be glory for ever and ever," 2 Tim. iv, 7, 8, 18. "Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ ? Shall tiibulation, or distress, or persecution,
or the sword ? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors,
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principaUties, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus,"
Rom. viii, 35, 39. "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is
thy victory ? ThaiJcs be to God, who giveth us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. xv, 55—57.
Thus the great apostle went forth to meet his last trial, counting it an
honour to suffer in the cause of truth, and rejoicing in hope of the glory
of God. The enemies of Christianity rendered him at last conformable
to Christ in his death :* but wliile they severed his head from his body,
they united his happy spirit more intimately to that exalted Jesus, who
had once met him in the way, and who now was waiting to receive him
at the end of his course. Happy are the faithful, who, like this faithful
apostle, live unto the Lord ] yet happier they, who, like him, are enabled
to die unto the Lord ! " Their works do follow them, while they rest
from their labours," and wait in peace the resurrection and the sublime
rewards of the righteous.
* Tradition informs us, that St. Paul, in the second journey he made to Rome,
received the crown of martyrdom under the Emperor Nero, about tliirty-five years
after the crucifixion of our blessed Lord. St. Clement, the contemporary of St.
Paul, speaks of that apostle in the following terms, in his first epistle to the Co-
rinthians : " By means of jealousy, Paul has received the prize of perseverance.
Having been seven times in bonds ; having been evil entreated and stoned ; hav-
ing preached in the cast and in the west, he has obtained the glorious prize of
his faith. After having instructed all the world in righteousness, coming into
the west, he has suffered martyrdom under those who command; and thus quit,
ting the world, after having shown in it a great example of patience, he has gone
into the holy place."
THE PORTRAIT
OP
LUKEWARM MINISTERS AND FALSE APOSTLES.
CHAPTER I.
The essence of painting consists in a happy mixture of light and
shade, from the contrast of which an admirable eflect is produced, and
the animated figure made to rise from the canvass. Upon this prin-
ciple we shall oppose to the Portrait of St. Paul, that of lukewarm
ministers and false apostles, whose gloomy traits will form a back gi'ound
pecuharly adapted to set off the character of an evangelical pastor.
If the primitive Church was disturbed and misled by unfaithful minis-
ters, it may be reasonably presumed that, in this more degenerate i)eriod
of its existence, the Church of God must be miserably overrun with
* teachers of tlie same character. There is, however, no small number
of ministers who form a kind of medium between zealous pastors and
false apostles. These irresolute evangelists are sincere to a certain
point. They have some desire after the things of God, but are abun-
dantly more solicitous for the things of the world : they form good reso-
lutions in the cause of their acknowledged Master, but are timid and
unfaithful when called upon actual service. They are sometimes actu-
ated by a momentary zeal, but generally influenced by servile fear.
They have no experience of that ardent affection, and that invincible
courage with which St. Paul was animated. Their wisdom is still car-
nal, 2 Cor. i, 12 ; they still confer " with flesh and blood," Gal. i, 16.
Such was Aaron, who yielded, tlu-ough an unmanly weakness, to the
impious solicitations of his people. Such was Jonah, when he refused
to exercise his ministry at Nineveh. That this prophet was possessed
of a holy confidence in God, and a desire for the salvation of his fellow
creatures, we have every reason to believe : but we find, that neither the
one nor the other was sufticiently powerful to engage him in a service
which appeared likely to endanger his reputation among men. Such
were also the ai)ostles before they were endued with power from on high.
To every pastor of this character, that expression of Christ, which was
once addressed to the most courageous man among his disciples, may be
considered as peculiarly applicable : " Thou art an offence unto me, for
thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men,"
Matt, xvi, 23.
Lukewarmuess, false prudence, and timidity, are the chief characteris-
tics by which ministers of this class may be distinguished. Perceiving
the excellence of the Gospel in an obscure point of view, and having
little experience of its astonishing effects, they cannot possibly discover
that religious zeal which is indispensably necessary to the ciiaracter
they affect to sustain.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 81
The pious Bishop Massillon gives the following representation of these
unqualitied teachers, and the ill effects of their unfaithfulness. " Man-
ners are every day becoming more corrupt among us, because the zeal
of ministers is daily becoming colder ; and because there are found
among us few apostolical men, who oppose themselves, as a brazen wall,
to the torrent of vice. For the most part, we behold the wicked alto-
gether at ease in their sins, for the want of hearing more freqviently those
thundering voices, which, accompanied with the Spirit of God, would
effectually rouse them from their awful slumber. The want of zeal, so
clearly discernible among pastors, is chiefly owing to that base timidity
which is not hardy enough to make a resolute stand against common
prejudice, and which regards the worthless approbation of men, beyond
their eternal interests. That must needs be a worldly and criminal con-
sideration, which makes us more anxious for our own glory than for the
gloiy of God. That must truly be fleshly wisdom, which can represent
religious zeal under the false ideas of excess, indiscretion, and temerity :
a pretext this, which nearly extinguishes every spark of zeal in the
generality of ministers. This want of courage they honour with the
specious names of moderation and pmdence. Under pretence of not
carrying their zeal to an excess, they are content to be entnely destitute
of it. And wliile they are solicitous to shun the rocks of imprudence and
precipitation, they run, without fear, upon the sands of indolence and
cowardice. They desire to become useful to sinners, and, at the same
time, to be had in estimation by them. They long to manifest such a
zeal as the world is disposed to applaud. They are anxious so to oppose
the passions of men, that they may yet secure their praises ; so to con-
demn the vices they love, that they may still be approved by those they
condemn. But when we probe a wound to the bottom, we must expect
to awaken a degree of peevishness in the patient, if we do not extort from
him some bitter exclamation."
" Let us not deceive ourselves," continues the same author ; " if this
apostolical zeal, which once converted the world, is become so rare
among us, it is because, in the discharge of our sacred functions, we
seek ourselves, rather than the glory of Christ, and the salvation of souls.
Glory antl infamy were regarded by the apostle with equal indifference,
while he filled up the duties of his important office. He knew it impos-
sible to please men, and to save them ; to be the servant of the world,
and the servant of Christ. Neveitheless, there are many among us who
are seeking to unite these different services, which the apostle believed
to be irreconcilable."
Mons. Roques agrees with the pious bishop in condemning those
ministers who neglect to copy the example of St. Paul. " The little
piety that is to be found among ministers," says this excellent writer,
" is the most effectual obstacle to the progress of the Gospel. By piety,
I mean that sincere and ardent love for religion, which deeply mteresta
a man in all its concerns, as well as in every thing that respects the gloiy
of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. If this Divine love were found
reigning in the hearts of those who proclaim Christ ; if every preacher
of the Gospel were enabled to say, with the sincerity of Peter, " Lord ?
thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that I love thee," John xxi, 15 ;
thou knowest that I have no ambition but for thy glory, and that my high-
VoL. in. 6
82 THK PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
est pleasure consists in beholding the increase of thy knigdom — we should
then perceive the sword of God in their hands like a two-edged sword,
cutting asunder the veiy deepest roots of sin. But as the Gospel is
preached more through contention, through vain glory, and through the
desire of getting a livelihood by serving at the altar, than through an
ardent zeal to advance the glory of God ; hence it is that ministers fall
into several errors, giving evident proofs of that indolence and unconceni,
which afford matter of scandal rather than of edification."— -Emn^eZ/coZ
Pastor,
Mons. Ostervald speaks the same language in his Tliird Source of the
Corruption which reigns among Christians. "A great part of our
ecclesiastics," says this writer, " may be justly charged with the corrup-
tion of the people, since there are among them many who oppose the
re-establishment of a holy discipline ; while others render the exercise
of it totally useless, Ity an ill-timed softness, and a shameful indulgence."
" I except those," continues this venerable pastor, " who ought to be
excepted. But on a general view, in what do ecclesiastics differ from
other men ? Do they distinguish themselves by an exemplary life ?
Their exterior, indeed, is somewhat different : they lead a more retired
life ; they, in some degree, save appearances ; though all do not go
thus far. But beyond this, are they not equally attached to the world,
as much engaged with earthly things, as wholly taken up with secular
views, as constantly actuated by iriterest and passion, as the generality
of mankind ?"
Christian prudence required that these portraits of lukewarm ministers
should be exhibited as the designs of pastors who have been eminent for
their piety, their rank, and experience, and who, on that account, had a
pecuUar right to declare those truths, which might give greater offence
were they to come from less respectable persons.
CHAPTER II.
The portrait of false apostles.
Between the state of careless ministers, and that of false apostles,
there is not, in reality, so vast a difference as many are apt to imagine.
An unworthy labourer in the spiritual vineyard gives speedy proofs of
a lukewarm temper in the service of his Lord ; shortly after his heart
becomes entirely cold with respect to piety ; and what is still more
lamentable, he frequently manifests as warm a zeal for error and vice as
the true minister can possibly discover in the cause of truth and virtue.
Such is the state of those who may pro})erly be termed preachers of the
third class, and who are spoken of by St. Paul under the title of " false
apostles," 2 Cor. xi, 13.
These unworthy ministers are known by their works. Like many of
St. Paul's unfaithful fellow labourers, 2 Tim. i, 15, they prefer the repose
and pleasure of the world before the service and reproach of C^hrist.
Like Judas and Simon the sorcerer, they love the honoui'is and revenues
of ministers, while they abhor the crosses and labours of the ministry.
Like Hophni and Phinehas, they are sons of Belial, and know not the
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL 83
Lord. Theii- sin is very great before the Lord. For, on tlieir account,
many " abhor the offering of the Lord," 1 Sam. ii, 12, 17. Like the
wicked servant, described by their reputed Master, instead of providing
" meat for his household in due season, they begin to smite," or to per-
secute those of their fellow servants who are intent upon discharging
their several duties ; while they pass away their time in mirth and festi-
vity with the riotous and the drunken. Matt, xxiv, 48, 49. They may
justly be compared to lamps extinguished in the temple of God. " Instead
of shining there to his praise," says Bishop Massillon, " they emit black
clouds of smoke which obscure every object about them, and become a
savour of death to those who perish. They are pillars of the sanctuary,
which, being overthrown and scattered in public places, become stones of
stumbhng to every heedless passenger. They are the salt of the earth,
and were appomted to preserve souls from corruption. But having lost
all their savour, they begin to corrupt what they were intended to pre-
serve." Tliey are physicians who carry to their patients infection
instead of health. From the spiritually diseased they withhold the heal-
ing word of God, Psalm cvii, 20, while they distribute among them the
dangerous poison of a lax morahty, setting before them an example of
bitter zeal against the truth, puffing them up with that wisdom a\ hich is
"earthly, sensual, and deviUsh," James iii, 14, 15.
" A false pastor," says Mons. Roques, or a false apostle, " is a minister
whose heart is not right before God, and who lives not in such a manner
as to edify his flock. He loiows the holy course of life to which Chris.
tians in general, and ministers in particular, are called ; but in spite of
all his knowledge and his apparent zeal, he fears not to trample under
foot those very maxims of the Gospel which he has publicly established
and preached ^^'ith the utmost energy. Every day he performs acts of
the most detestable iiypocrisy. Every time he preaches and censures,
he bears open testimony against his own conduct. But he publicly
accuses, without ever intending to correct himself. He is a constant
declaimer against vice in the pulpit ; but a peculiar protector of it wliile
he is engaged in the common concerns of life. While he exhorts his
hearers to repentance, he either imagines himself above those laws
which he proposes to others on the part of God ; or he believes himself
under no other necessity of liolding them forth, except his own engage-
ments to such a work, and the salary he receives for the performance
of it."
Mons, Ostervald, in a work already referred to, makes mention of
these pastors in tlie followmg terms : " How many do we see who regard
their holy vocation in no other light than the means of procuring for
them a comfortable maintenance. Are there not many who bring a
scandal upon their profession by the licentiousness of their maimers ?
Do we not see them hasty and outrageous ? Do we not observe in them
an extreme attachment to their own interests ? Are they careful to rule
their families well ? Has it not been a subject of complaint, that they
are puffed up with pride, and are implacable in their hatred ? t say
nothing of many other vices and defects which are equally scandalous
in the clergy, such as vain and loose conversation, an attachment to
diversion and pleasure, a worldly disposition, slothfulncss, crafi, injustice,
and slander."
84 THE PORTR-MT OF ST. PAUL.
" It IS impossible to find a person," adds Mons. Ostervald, " sur-
rounded with more powerful motives to piety, than a man whose ordinary
occupation is to meditate upon religious things, to discourse of them
among otliers, to reprove vice and hypocrisy, to perform Divine service,
to administer the holy sacraments, to visit the afflicted and the dying ;
and who must one day render to God an account of the souls com-
mitted to his charge. I know not whether it be possible to find any
stronger marks of impiety and hypocrisy than those which may be dis-
covered in the character of a person, who, in the midst of all these
favourable circumstances, is, nevertheless, an unrighteous man. Such
a one may be said to divert himself with the most sacred things of reli-
gion, and to spend the whole of his life in performing the part of an
impostor. And this he does to his cost ; since there is no profession in
the world that will more effectually secure a sentence of condemnation
than that of the priesthood, when exercised in so unfaithful a manner."
But it is chiefly in the Holy Scriptures where these unworthy pastors
are portrayed in so strong a point of view, that eveiy attentive inquirer
may readily discern their distinguisliing features. " Son of" man," saith
the Lord, " prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, and say unto them :
Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are
fed ; but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened,
neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye
brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that
which was lost : but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds ;
and I will require my flock at their hand," Ezek. xxxiv, 2, 10. " As
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concernhig the faith," 2 Tim. iii, 8.
" Wo unto them ; for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran
greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gain-
saying of Korah. Clouds they are without water, carried about of
winds ; trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots ; raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame ; wandering stars, to
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever," JikIc 11, 12.
St. John has not only drawn the character, but has likew ise given us
the name of a certain tyrannical teacher, who begtm to disturb the peace of
the primitive church : " I wrote unto the Church," saith he to Gains, con-
cerning the reception of stranger evangelists ; but Diotrephes, who loveth
to have the pre-eminence among them, rcceiveth us not. If I come, I
will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with maU-
cious words. And not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive
the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of
the Church," 3 Jolm. Behold a striking description of proud and per-
secuting ecclesiastics !
But, perhaps, the most complete description of these is given by our
Lord himself, where he treats of worthless pastors in general, under the
particular names of scribes and Pharisees. Here a Divine and impartial
hand delineates the jealousy, the pride, the feigned morality, the malice,
and the persecuting spirit which characterize this class of men in every
age of the world. " Do not ye," saith Christ, " after their works, for
they say, and do not. All their works they do to be seen of men. They
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAtJL. 85
love the chief seats in the sjiiagogues, and greetings in the markets.
Wo unto you, hypocrites ! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men : ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that
are entering to go in. Ye neglect judgment, mercy, and faith. Ye
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but witliin ye are full of hypocrisy
and miquity. Because ye garnish the sepulchres of the righteous," ye
vainly imagine yourselves free from a persecuting spirit, while in other
matters, as " the children of them which killed the prophets," ye are
labouring to " fill up the measure of your fathers. Behold, I send unto
you prophets" and zealous preachers of the word, " and some of them
ye shall kill, and some of them ye shall persecute fi-om city to city,"
Matt, xxiii, 3, 34.
We need talve but a cursory view of the New Testament, for suffi-
cient proof that these worldly-minded scribes and these furious bigots
above represented, were the very persons who pursued the first evangel-
ists with such deadly rancour. Nay, had it not been for Annas and
Caiaphas, Herod and Pij|^e would silently have permitted the preaching
of Jesus himself. These, who were the chief men of the state, after
refusing to embrace the word of God, on their own part, would most
probably have contented themselves with denying its truths, and ridi-
cuhng its followers. But they would never have passed a sentence of
death upon persons of so admirable a character as Christ and his fore-
runner.
The peculiar opposers of Jesus and his disciples were powerfully
influenced by jealous pride ; and with the same malignant disposition
eveiy false apostle in the Christian Church is deeply infected. The pre-
late, whose pen we have already borrowed, gives the following lively
description of this unhappy temper : "This despicable jealousy not only
dishonours zeal, but supposes it extinguished in the heart. It is an
infamous disposition which afflicts itself even for tlie conversion of sin-
ners, and for the progress of the Gospel, when it is through the ministni'^
of others that God is pleased to work these miracles. The glory of
God seldom interests us so much as when our own glory appears to be
mingled with liis. We endure, with some kind of regret, that God
should be glorified : and I wUl dare to add, that some of us could
behold our brethren perisliing, with pleasure, rather than see them res-
cued from death by other labours, and other talents than our own. St.
Paul rejoiced to see the Gospel spread abroad, though it were by the
ministry of those who sought to disgrace him among the faithful ; and
Moses desired that all his brethren might receive the gift of prophecy.
But we are anxious to stand alone, and to share with no person the
glory and success of the holy ministry. Every thing that eclipses our
own brightness, or shines too near us, becomes insupportable, and we
appear to regard the gifts of God in others, merely as a shame and
reproach to ourselves." Observe here the true source of those specious
pretexts, which are professedly drawn from the order, the customs, and
even from the prejudices of the world. Pretexts under which ^\e dare
oppose the zeal of our brethren, to withstand the word of God in its
course, and to render the cross of the ministry more burthensome to
those who carry it farther than we are disposed to do. One distinguish-
ing mark of these turbulent evangelists, is that of being thorns in the
86 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
sides of true ministers, whom they never fail to represent as deceivers
or novices, causing the truest piety to wear the semblance of enthusiasm
and folly. " They speak evil of the things they understand not," 2 Pet.
ii, 12; and by the most mahcious discourses, which have always an
appearance of zeal for rehgion and order, they are gi-adually rousing
anew that spirit of persecution, by which the name of Christ has been
so universally disgiaced in the world. ^
In the earliest age of the Christian Church, these false apostles, swell-
ing with en\y at the success of more faithful ministers, made use of every
effort to render them contemptible, by giving ftilse representations of their
holy zeal, and then- exemplary actions. Thus they accused St. Paul of
walking " according to the flesh ;" and asserted, that though " his letters
wei'e weighty and powei^ful," yet " his bodily presence was weak, and his
speech contemptible," 2 Cor. x, 2, 10. Nay, so anxious were they in
seeking occasions for offence in the conduct of this apostle, that he
beUeved himself obliged in the end pubhcly to expose them. " These
are false apostles," says he, "deceitful worker^ transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, Wr Satan liimself is trans-
formed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also be ti-ansformed, as the ministers of righteousness ; whose
end shall be according to their works," 2 Cor. xi, 13-15. As our Lord
foresaw that these strenuous opposers of real religion would bring his
Church to the very brink of ruin, he exhorted his disciples continually
to stand upon their guard against them, Matt, vii, 15. And the apos-
tles, after steadily following their Master's important advice, were diligent
in transmitting it to the latest of their followers. Acts xx, 28, 30 ; 2
Pet. ii, 1.
One necessary remark shall conclude this chapter. In the Portrait
of St. Paul we have seen that of an evangelical pastor. In the preceding
chapter we have marked the character of a careless minister ; and in
this we behold the faithful representation of a false apostle. Let us
remember, that one of these three portraits must agree, more or less,
with every preacher of the Gospel. I say more or less, because the
various traits here marked out may be varied to an ahnost inconceivable
degree. Moreover, so inconstant is man, that a muiister, who to-day is
possessed of zeal sufficient to rank him with preachers of the first class,
may, to-morrow, by an unhappy remissness, sink into the second, as
once did John, whose surname was Mark ; or even into the third, as
Hymeneus and Philetus, Diotrephes and Demas. On the contrary, a
man, who now discovers many of those traits by which Saul the Pharisee
was once distinguished, may, ere long, become an humble imitator of
the zeal and charity of Paul the apostle.
CHAPTER III.
An answer to tJie first objection which may be made against the Portrait of
St. Paid.
Objections are the ordinary weapons with which error makes war
upon truth, and these are sometimes so powerfiil, that, till they are
effectually repelled, we see truth deprived of its rights. Hie first that
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUt. 87
will probably be advanced against the Portrait of St. Paul, is this : " The
model placed before us is too exalted for those who are not endued \vith
the miraculous gifts of St. Paul."
To this, and every other objection, we shall offer a variety of replies,
in as concise a manner as possible. To the present objection a sufficient
answer has been already returned by a truly respectable author : " This
exciise," says Mons. Roques, " might have some weight, if, in proposing
the example of Christ to persons who are honoured with the holy minis-
try, we insisted upon their keeping pace with the Saviour of mankind.
But tliis excuse is altogether frivolous, when nothing more is required of
ministers than continually to place Christ as a model before their eyes,
and to imitate him with all the exactness of which they are capable."
" This excuse," continues he, " is still more unreasonable, when applied
to prophets and apostles, who were men of lilve passions with ourselves ;
and who, of consequence, may be placed before us as models, whose
perfections are attainable by means of the very same succours which
supported them, and which are never refused to those who have sincere
and apostolical intentions." {Evangelical Pastor.)
To the answer of this pious divine we shall subjoin a few observations.
1. In the Portrait of St. Paul there is found no large description of
miraculous gifts, but a faithful representation of those Christian virtues,
which are found in every believer, according to liis vocation, and without
which it is impossible for us to fill up our several duties — such as humi-
lity, faith, charity, zeal, and assiduity.
2. The morality which was practised by St. Paul was no other than
the morahty of the Gospel, which is the same in every age, and for
every condition : whence it follows, that the moi"al character of this
apostle belongs not only to all true pastors, but even to every sincere
believer. If St. Paul was truly humble, charitable, and pious, liis humi-
lity, his charity, and his piety, are as essential to the reUgion of every
Christian, as three angles are essential to the nature of every triangle.
It is granted, that the piety of this apostle was greater than that of a
thousand other ministers, just as one triangle may be greater than that
of a thousand others. But as the angles of the most diminutive triangle
are of the same quality with those which compose a triangle of uncom-
mon magnitude, so the moral character of St. Paul is, with regard to
essentials, the moral character of every true Christian.
3. This apostle informs us, that he was obliged to " keep his body in
subjection, lest after having preached to others he himself should become
a castawav," 1 Cor. ix, 27. This single acknowledgment sufficiently
proves that he was exposed to all those dangers with which Christians
are generally beset, and that he saw no way of escaping them, but by
the use of those very precautions which the weakest believer is instructed
to take. Now, if St. Paul was so fearful of falling away ; if St. Peter
was really seen to stumble and fall ; and if Judas, an elected apostle,
irremediably plunged himself into the depths of perdition ; it is but rea-
sonable to suppose that, by a faithful»improvement of our privileges, we
may attain to a good degree of that exalted piety, frdm which one apostle
fell for a season, and another for ever.
4. In the whole Portrait of St. Paul there is not a stronger trait than
the eighteenth, which describes the ardour of his love for the Jews, who
88 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
pursued him even to death : a love that made him willing to be accursed
in dying for them, as his gracious Master had been in dying for the world.
Now this charity is so far from being an attainment too exalted for true
ministers, that it is indiscriminately required of every professing Chris-
tian. " Hereby," saith St. John, " perceive we the love of God, because
he laid down his life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren," 1 John iii, 16. And our Lord himself hath said, " By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another," John xiii, 35. It is by a new commandment to this effect that
the morality of the Gospel is peculiarly distinguished from that of the
law. And shall we impiously attempt to enervate evangehcal moraUty ?
Let us rather declare, upon all occasions, that " he who loveth not know-
eth not God," 1 John iv, 8. Let us cry out with the apostle, " If any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha."
And if a man love not his bretiiren, he loves not the Lord Jesus ; for " he
that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God,
whom he hath not seen f 1 Cor. xvi, 22.
On the other hand, when we love our brethren " with a pure heart
fervently," 1 Pet. i, 22, when, disposed to universal benevolence, we can
look upon our very enemies with sentiments of pity and aftection, we
are then assuredly possessed of that Christian charity, which forms the
most brilliant trait in the moral character of St. Paul.
5. St. Paul was for three years the resident pastor of a single Church.
The city of Ephesus was his parish. And while he resided there, he
gave an example, which every minister, by the most solemn engage-
ments, is bound to follow, whether he be commissioned to labour in a
city or a village. Dui'ing two other years of his life this apostle was
confined within narrower limits than any pastor of a parish. Shut up
at Rome in a house that served him for a prison, and constantly guarded
by a soldier, he was unable to extend the sphere of his labours. Yet,
even in these circumstances, he continued in the dihgent exercise of the
holy ministry, " preaching the kingdom of God to all them that came in
unto him, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ," Acts xxviii, 30.
Surely nothing can appear more perfectly reasonable, than that every
pastor should discover as much zeal in his particular parish, as St. Paul
was accustomed to manifest in the Roman empire when he was at liberty,
and in his own apartment when loaded with chains.
6. If tlie ardent charity and the incessant labours of St. Paul were
happily imitated by Timothy, why may they not be copied by everj^
pastor in the present day ? That youthful minister was anxious to tread
in the steps of this apostle, and they, who are otherwise minded, assuredly
fall under those apostolical censures, which are thus indirectly expressed
in his Epistle to the PhiUppians : " I trust to send Timotheus shortly unto
you, for I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your
state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
But ye know the proof of him, tlHit as a son with the father, he hath
served with me in the Gospel," Phil, ii, 19-22.
7. The destruction of the eastern Churches commenced in the falling
away of their pastors, who gradually abated in the fervours of that holy
zeal, with which they had begun to labour in the vineyard oi* their Lord.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 89
Of such unfaithful teachers Christ affectingly complained in the earliest
period of his Church, and accompanied lus complaints with the most
terrible menaces. " Write unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus,"
said he to St. John, " I know thy former works, and thy labour, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou
hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not ; and hast found
them liars, &c. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, fiom whence thou
ait fallen, and repent, and do the first works : or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except
thou repent," Rev. ii, 2-5.
The warning was unattended to, and, at length, the threatened blow
was struck. Thus fell the Church of Ephesus, and thus every Church
upon earth is fallen, making way for that " mystery of iniquity," and that
general apostasy, which have been so long foretold. So true is it, that
apostolical charity, that charity which was first lighted up on the day of
pentecost, is still absolutely necessary to every pastor, to eveiy Church,
and, of consequence, to eveiy believer.
From the combined force of these seven argumentative observations,
we have a right to conclude, that the virtues of St. Paul are far from
bemg inimitable, and that the first objection against his portrait is void
of solidity.
CHAPTER IV.
A second objection argued against.
Thev who follow the example of Diotrephes rather than that of St.
Paul, add to the preceding another objection, to discredit, if possible, the
imitators of this great apostle. " Do you pretend," say they, " to be the
successors of St. Paul, and the other apostles, whom you presumptuously
cite as your models ?"
To such objectors the following reflections will serve as a sufficient
reply :—
1. We have heard St. Paul, in the character of a beUever, proposing
himself as an example to all believers ; and, as a minister of the Gospel,
exhorting every pastor to tread in his steps, 1 Cor. xi, 1 ; Phil, iii, 17.
2. John the Baptist preached repentance. The apostles proclaimed
remission of sins in the name of Jesus Christ, " who was delivered for
our offences, and was raised again for our justification," Rom. iv, 25 ;
and every true minister still continues to insist upon these important doc-
trines. Now, as he who takes the place of a person deceased, is
accounted the successor of such person ; so these faithful pastors should
be regarded as teachers appointed to succeed both the foreruimer and
apostles of Christ. It must be allowed that the apostles, as elders in the
family of our Lord, were in possession of privileges which we are not
permitted to enjoy. But if the Gospel is unchangeable, and if the king-
dom of God still remains under its ancient form of government, the
priesthood must, for the most part, of necessity continue the same.
3. There was a time in which the Jewish priests had lost the Urim
and Thummim with which Aaron and his sons were at first invested.
90 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAXIL.
There was a time in which God no longer manifested himself to his
own appointed priests, as he had been accustomed to do. But as, not-
withstanding the loss of that glory which formerly rested upon the
Jewish Church, every pious priest, such as Zacharias, was a true suc-
cessor of Aaron ; so, during the eclipse of that glory which once illumi-
nated the Christian Church, every pious minister may justly be accounted
a true successor of St. Paul.
4. The word apostle signifies one who is sent, and answers to the term
angd or messenger. " Our brethren," says St. Paul, who accompany
Titus,* " are the messengers," or apostles, " of the Churches," 2 Cor.
viii, 23. Every minister, therefore, who carries with sincerity the
messages of his Lord, may, with propriety, be ranlted among his angels
or messengers. Nor do such immediately lose their title when they
neglect to perfonn the duties of their office. They may, like .Tudas, go
under the name of apostles even to their death, though utterly unworthy
of such an honourable appellation. Thus, after the pastors of Ephesus and
Laodicea had outlived the transient fervours of their charitj^ and zeal,
they were still addressed as the angels of their several Churches. And
thus St. Paul gave the title of apostles to the worldly ministers of his
time. In quality of ministers they were apostles ; but in quality of
worldly ministers they were false apostles.
5. As the name of Cesar is ordinarily applied to the twelve first
Roman emperors, so the name of apostle is ordinarily applied to the
twelve first ministers of the Gospel who had been permitted to converse
with their Lord, even after his resurrection, and to St. Paul, who was
favoured with a glorious manifestation of his exalted Saviour. In this
confined sense it is acknowledged that tlie name of apostle belongs, in
an especial maimer, to those who were sent forth by Christ after having
received their consecration and commission immediately from himself.
But as the name of Cesar, in a more general sense, may be given to all
the emperors of Rome, so the name of apostle may be applied to every
minister of the everlasting Gospel. Thus Barnabas, Andronicus, and
Junia, who were neither of the number of the twelve, nor yet of the
seventy, were denominated apostles as well as St. Paul, Acts xiv, 14 ;
Rom. xvi, 7.
6. It is the invariable opinion of slothful Christians that the zeal of
ministers, and the piety of believers in the present day, must necessarily
fall far below what they were in the apostles' time : as though the pro-
mises of Christ were unhappily limited to the primitive Church. This
error has been frequently refuted in vain by a variety of Christian
writers, since nothing can be more conformable to that spirit of incredu-
lity which reigns among us, than to renounce, at once, the most important
promises of the New Testament. Had the same promises been made
respecting temporal honours and profits, we should see a different mode
of conduct adopted ; " For the children of this worid are, in their gene-
ration, wiser than the children of light," Luke xvi, 8.
Mons. Roques bears the following testimony to the tixith contended
for in this place. " The ministers of the Gospel esteem themselves, and
with reason, the successors of the apostles. Their employment is essen-
tially the same ; though the apostles were honoured with many glorious
prerogatives, as being the first to lay the foundation of the Church."
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 91
'< The minister of Christ," says the same writer, " cannot be said
vainly to flatter liimself when he counts upon the gracious assistance of
his Master. He takes the promise of that Master for the solid founda-
tion of his hope. ' I am with you alway,' said Christ to his apostles,
and, in tlieir persons, to all those who should succeed them in the minis-
try, ' even unto the end of the world,' " Matt, xxviii, 20.
" It was tliis Divine promise," continues he, " a promise more steadfast
tlian earth or heaven, that filled the apostles with such an ardent zeal, as
enabled them to rejoice evermore ; placing them above the fury of
tyrants, and beyond the reach of fear ; assisting them to endure excessive
fatigue and toilsome journeys, the inclemency of the seasons, and the
resistance of obdurate hearts." Impressed with a just sense of this
important promise, the venerable writer concludes with this fervent
prayer : " Holy Jesus ! who hast promised to continue for ever with
thine apostles, and to give them that wisdom which no man shall ever be
able to resist, give me to experience a participation of these signal
favours, that, animated by the same spirit with which thy first disciples
were inspired, I may lead some soul a happy captive to the obedience of
thy word." These beautiful quotations will make their own apology for
appearing in this place.
7. If any are disposed to condemn Monsieur Roques as an enthusiast
in this point, they consider not how many great and honourable names
they disgrace by such a precipitate judgment; since all those pious
fathers who are looked upon as the reformers of corrupted doctrines
and degenerate manners, were unanimously of the same opinion.
From the preceding reflections it seems but reasonable to conclude,
that all the true, ministprs of Christ in eveiy nation are to be considered
as the true successors of the apostles, and particularly of St. Paul, who,
by^ way of eminence, is entitled the apostle of the Gentiles, and who, on
that account, may, with the greater propriety, be proposed to them as
a model.
CHAPTER V.
A third objection replied to.
They who will allow neither believers nor pastors to become imitators
of St. Paul, ver}- rarely forget to propose a third objection against such
imitation. " If you pretend," say they, " to be the apostles' successors,
then prove your mission by the performance of miracles equal to theirs."
To this objection we reply : —
1. That no mention is made of the miracles of Andronicus, Junia,
and Barnabas, who were real apostles ; nor any miracles attributed to
Titus or Timothy, though they were undoubted successors of the apos-
tles. Farther : it is expressly said that John the Baptist, though he was
greater than the prophets, did no miracle, John x, 41. On the other
hand, some miraculous gifts were common in the Church of Corinth,
even among those who were neither apostles nor evangelists ; and these
gifts were so far from being essential to apostolic zeal, that many unwor-
thy brethren, and many false apostles, as well as the traitor Judas, were
92 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
endued with tlieni. This we are taught, in the most express terms, by
our Lord himself, Matt, vii, 22.
2. If any of those pastors who make a profession of following St.
Paul, are observed to publish another Gospel, or to depart from the order
established by the apostles, the world has then reason to require miracles
at their hands as a demonstration that their doctrines are Divine, and that
their recent customs are preferable to those which were formerly adopted
in the Church of Christ. But if they simply proclaim that glorious
Gospel which has been already confirmed by a thousand miracles, and
are observed to adopt no other method than that of the apostles ; it is
absurd, in the highest degree, to insist upon miracles as the only sufficient
evidences of their mission. From worldly pastors such attestations of
their sacred commission might, with propriety, be required. These are
the persons who turn aside from the beaten track of Christ and his dis-
ciples, both with respect to doctrine and discipline ; and these should be
required by the Church to give incontestable proofs that their novel cus-
toms are better than those of St. Paul and the ancient evangelists.
3. No sufficient reason can be given why the humble imitators of St.
Paul should be required to evidence their spiritual mission by extraordi-
nary actions. On the one hand, they do but sunply declare those reli-
gious truths of which they have had the most convmcing experience :
and on the other, they earnestly solicit the wicked to become partakers
of the same invaluable blessings with themselves. Now the certainty of
such declaration, and the sincerity of such invitation, may be solidly
estabUshed upon two kinds of proofs ; the first upon those proofs which
support the Gosjjel in general, and the second upon the holy conduct of
those who bear this testimony, and repeat these invitntinns, by which they
demonstrate the efficacy of their doctrine, and indisputably prove that
true Christians are dead indeed unto sm, but ahve unto God, Rom. vi, 11.
That pastor who is unable to produce the former proofs, cannot possibly
be regarded as a true successor of the great apostle ; and he whose
uniform conduct is insufficient to supply the latter, is no other than a
false apostle.
4. External miracles, which effect no change in the heart, nor rescue
the soul from a state of spiritual blindness and death ; miracles which
serve only to repair the organs of a body that must shortly be consigned
to the grave ; miracles wliich tend merely to modify matter, such as
causing green trees to wither, withered trees to spring, and waters to
gush out of the flinty rock : miracles of this nature are far less im-
portant than those which cause the thorns of vice to wither, the seeds of
grace to spring, and streams of sacred consolation to flow through those
very hearts which were formerly barren as a desert, and hard as the rock
that Moses smote.
5. " If you wish for miracles," says a Christian writer, " if you are
anxious to experience them in yourselves ; if, in the secret of your
heart, you would become witnesses of his almighty power by whom
that heart was formed, then ask of him that sublime virtue [that charity*]
from which all your inclinations and habits detain you at so vast a dis-
tance that you are in no situation to form any just idea of it, nor even to
conceive the possibility of its existence." (Professor Crousaz's Sermon
upon 1 Cor. xiii, 1.3.)
THK rOKTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL. 93
6. That Divme charity, and those sacred consolations, which were as
" a well of water springing up into everlasting life" in the hearts of
Christ's first disciples, may be made to abound even in ours, since the
source of these inestimable graces can never be exhausted, Heb. xiii, 8,
and the faithful, who experience in themselves this gracious miracle,
stand in need of no other prodigy to establish them in the faith of the
Gospel.
7. The most important miracles were those which were wrought by
the apostles when, as fellow workers together with God, they opened the
eyes of sinners, turning them " from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God," Acts xxvi, 18. True miracles of mercy
these, and memorable conversions, which the word of God, in the mouths
of his ministers, is continually operating in every age !
8. The charity which is discovered by a faithful pastor who humbly
co-operates with God in the conversion of his inveterate enemies, should
be I'egarded by the world as the truest test of his apostleship. " Whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall
cease ; but charity never faileth. And though I have all faith, so that I
could remove mountains," and perform the most unheard-of prodigies,
" if I have not charity, I am nothing," 1 Cor. xiii.
The preceding replies are abundantly sufficient to demonstrate the
weakness of their third objection, who are the professed enemies of
apostolic zeal.
CHAPTER VI.
A fourth nhjpr.finn refiiteA.
The objection here proposed has been abundantly more prejudicial to
the cause of piety, than any of the preceding. " You suppose," say
formal professors, " that every pastor is called to labour for the salvation
of souls, in the present day, with all that zeal which animated St. Paul in
primitive times. But their circumstances differ in a very material way.
The apostles were commissioned to preach the Gospel, either to obsti-
nate Jew's or idolatrous heathens : whereas our pastors are called to
exercise their ministry among such as have received the truth from their
earliest infancy. Is it not then contrary to common sense, that the same
laborious efforts should be thought necessary for the instruction of Chris-
tians, which St. Paul was formerly constrained to make use of for the
conversion of idolaters ?"
As this specious objection has been more frequently repeated than
properly refuted, it becomes necessary, in this place, to expose all its
weakness, and to demonstrate that the difference between sinners who
are baptized, and those with whom St. Paul had to do, is by no means
in favour of indolent pastors.
1. Theie are found swarms of infidels and idolaters in eveiy Chris-
tian country upon earth. We need not look beyond Protestant Churches
to discover multitudes of impious Christians, who not only despise (he
Gospel in secret, but who even dare to make it the subject of public
ridicule : men, who '-have set up their idols in their hearts," Ezek. xiv,2,
94 THK rORTKAlT Or ST. PAUL.
and who perfectly answer the apostle's description of degenerate pro-
fessors, 2 Tim. iii, 2-5.
2. St. Paul himself sufficiently answers this very objection, as fol-
lows : — " In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creature : and as many as walk according to
this rule, peace be on them," Gal. vi, 15, 16. If there are any who
make a profession of receiving the Christian faith, and who follow not
this evangelical rule, the apostle thus addresses them with a holy
warmth : " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your
own selves ; know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobates ?" 2 Cor. xiii, 5. " Be not deceived :
neither covetous persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. vi, 9, 10.
3. Observe how the same objection is combated again in another of
St. Paul's epistles. " Behold, thou art called a Christian, and makest
thy boast of God, and knowest his will, being instructed out of the two-
fold law of Moses and of Christ. Thou, that makest thy boast of tJm
law ; if thou, through breaking the law, dishonourest God, the name of
God is then blasphemed among the Gentiles through thee. Therefore,
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest" the
heathen, as sinners more hopdess than thyself: "for wherein thou
judgest another, thou condcmnest thyself; for diou that judgest doest
the same things. And Ihinkest thou, O man," that thy privileges unim-
proved will assist thee to " escape the judgment of God ? Or despisest
thou the riches of his goodness ; not knowing that the goodness of God
leadeth thee to repentance ?" Beware lest, " after the iiardness of thine
impenitent heart, thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of
wrath," Rom. ii, 1-24.
If every Scriptural threatening is denounced again&l those who are
without that holiness which the Gospel requires, it would ill become us
to flatter either ourselves or others, with being the true followers of
Christ, merely on account of that external profession of Christianity,
which is generally apparent among us. Is it not undeniably evident,
that such a profession, unless it be accompanied with strict holiness, will
subject us to more and heavier stripes, than if we had never known the
will of our heavenly Father, nor ever acknowledged Clirist as our right-
ful Lord? Luke xii, 47, 48. Did not our gracious Master himself once
openly manifest a greater degree of abhorrence toward the lukewarm
Christian, than toward the notorious sinner? Rev. iii, 16. And has lie
not plainly declared, that myriads of righteous heathens shall be permit-
ted to sit down in the kingdom of God, while multitudes of his professing
people shall be cast into outer darkness ? Luke xiii, 28, 29.
5. After infants have been baptized, and after young persons have
been admitted to the holy communion, the true pastor, instead of talving
it for granted that they are become unfeigned Christians by partajcing
of these ordinances, examines them with diligence from time to time,
and, from an attentive observation of their conduct, forms a judgment of
their faith. If, after the strictest scrutiny, he discovers some amoiig
them who hold the form without experiencing the power of godliness, he
renews his work with increasing ardour. The most painful part of his
duty is still before him, when he attempts to convert those siimers, who
XHE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 96
are baptized, and those iiifidels who are communicants : smce, before
he can lead them to that tuith wliich worketh by love, as St. Paul was
accustomed to lead unprejudiced heathens, he must first unmask them
with a holy severity, as the blessed Jesus was accustomed to unmask the
Pharisees of lus day.
6. If unregenerate Christians are heathens by their worldly disposi-
tions ; if they are Pharisees by their presumption, and confirmed in their
Pharisaism by the fallacious opinions they indulge of their prerogative
under the Gospel ; it follows that every modern pastor is called to a per-
formance of the twofold duty above described, and if this be the case,
how unreasonable is it to imagine, that the ministers of our own time
have a much less difficult task before them than those who were formerly
commissioned to pubUsh the Gospel !
7. All pastoi's have an important task assigned them, and, till this is
performed, they are required to labour without fainting. Observe in
what this task consists: — "He that descended from heaven," saitli St.
Paul, " gave some apostles, and some pastors and teachers, for the per-
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ : till we all come, [both pastors and flocks,] unto the mea-
sure of the stature of the fuhiess of Christ," Eph. iv, 11-13. When
every Christian has attained to this exalted state, the ministers of the
Gospel may then assert their work to be complete, and need no longer
imitate the diligence of St. Paul. But while we are surrounded with
baptized swearers. Sabbath breakers, slanderers, gamesters, drunkards,
gluttons, debauchees, blasphemers, and hypocrites, who are using every
effort to render Christianity despicable betbre infidels, and execrable in
the eyes of philosophers ; at such a time, it cannot be reasonably ima-
gined, that any individual labourer is permitted to stand idle in the spiritual
vineyard. And yet, in this very time of universal degeneracy, there are
not wanting many among us, who inconsiderately cry out : " St. Paul,
without doubt, had reason to labour with unremitting assiduity for the
conversion of idolatrous heathens ; but we are converted already, and
see no necessity for that burning zeal, and those strenuous efl'orts among
our modern teachers, which were formerly commendable in that apostle."
8. If it be objected, that Christians are here represented in a more
deplorable point of view, than candour or obsei-vation can warrant ; we
make om* appeal to those proclamations which have been made with a
view to repress the single sin of profaning the name of God, by impious
oaths and horrible imprecations. These must undoubtedh'- be considered
as pubUc testimonies of public guilt. In such proclamaUons, all Chris-
tian governments, whether Catholic or Protestant, equally complain, that
all the civil laws by which they have endeavoured to enforce the law
of God, have proved insufficient to prevent the overflow ings of a crime
as insipid as it is disgraceful. In vain have new penalties and punish-
ments been decreed ; in vain are they constantly held forth from the
pulpits of preachers and the thrones of kings ; this despicable vice still
reigns undisturbed among us, insulting over the broken laws of e.uth and
heaven. Now, if it has hithcilo been found impossible to prevent the
commission of a sin, which has neither pleasure nor profit to plead in its
favour, what can wc expect concerning all those thousand vices which
.•iUure with promise?^ of both ? Are not dissimulation and perjury, injustice
96 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PALL.
and covetousness, lasciviousness and luxury, apparent among the mem-
bers of every Church ? Do not rapine, revenge, and murder, defile every
part of Christendom, in spite of prisons, banishment, and death ? It is a
truth too notorious to be controverted, that every crime, wth which
human nature has ever been polluted, is still continually practised in the
most enlightened parts pf the world.
We might here mention, if it were necessary, the contempt in which
marriage is held, the instability of that holy estate, and the facility with
which so sacred a bond is broken. We might go on to bewail the fre-
quent commission of suicide in Christian communities. But to speak
of these, with many other sins which are increasing around us to an
alarming degree, would be only to echo back those sad complaints
which are eveiy day breathed from the lips of the righteous. The
above remarks may possibly appear uncharitable to some: but, if they
be without foundation, how many unmeaning expressions do we find in
our liturgy ! What hypocrisy in our public confessions ! What false
humility in our prayers !
From all these observations, it is evident that the most heathenish
manners are common among Christians, so called, and that the most
scandalous vices are prevalent, even in those countries where reformed
Christianity has erected its standard. Let the impartial inquirer then
declare, whether it be not peculiarly necessary to preach repentance
among those whose rebellion against God is accompanied with perfidious-
nesa and hypocrisy ?
CHAPTER VII.
The same subject continued.
1. Were it even certain, that professing Christians in general walk
according to their holy vocation, would it be commendable in pastors to
show less concern for the salvation of Christ's apparent disciples, than
was anciently discovered by St. Paul for the conversion of persecuting
heathens? Christians are our brethren. The Church, our common
mother, has nourished us with the same spiritual milk, and calls us to
a participation of the same heavenly inheritance. Christians are no
more strangers ; and even those who are bad citizens, and unfaithful
domestics, are, nevertheless, in some sense citizens of the same city with
ourselves, and "of the household of God," Eph. ii, 19. Hence, as we
compose but one household, so whenever we are disposed to neglect any
part of this family, we may apply to ourselves the following words of
the apostle: "If any provide not for his own, and especially for those
of his o^vn house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,"
1 Tim. v, 8. Let ministers, then, be placed in the happiest imaginable
circumstances, and it will still become them to cry out, with the pious
benevolence of St. Paul, " As we have opportunity, let us do good unto
all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith," Ga-
latians v, 10.
2. We may here pursue the idea which Christ himself has given us, by
comparing his Church to a vineyard. If it be necessary to graft those
stocks which are naturally wild, is it less necessary to cultivate those
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL. 97
wliicli have been already grafted ? We see the husbandmen bestowing
most culture upon those vines which produce the most excellent fruit.
Let ministers attend to this general rule : and sijice they only can be
fruitful in the sacred vineyard, who receive the word of God in faith, let
them study to train up believers to the highest state of maturity. Thus
the heavenly husbandman is represented as purging every fruitful
branch, " that it may bring forth more fruit," John xv, 2.
3. The word of God must be offered to sinners as a remedy suited
to the disease of their souls : but to the faithful it must be administered
as nourishing food. Hence, as the order of grace resembles that of
nature, it is necessary, in a spiritual sense, to minister nutriment to the
healthy in much greater quantities, thim medicine to those who are dis-
eased. 'Dius believers, who constantly hunger and thirst after greater
degrees of grace, should more frequently receive the living word, that
they " may abound yet more and more in knowledge," till they are
"filled with the fniits of righteousness," Phil, i, 9-11.
4. We find the following expressions in the Epistle of St. Paid to the
Romans : " I am pei-suaded of you, my brethren, that ye are full of
goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another.
Nevertheless, I have written the more boldly unto you, as putting you in
mind. And I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual
gift, to the end ye may be established," Rom. xv, 14, 15 ; i, 11. Now,
if Si. Paul could express so earnest a desire to instruct those Christians,
who were perfect strangers to him, and who were already so Divinely
enhghtened ; far li'om being imitators of this gi'eat apostle, do we not
forfeit all pretensions to charity, while we suffer those ignorant Chris-
tians to perish " for lack of knowledge," Hos. iv, 6, who are not only
of our neighbourhood, but probably of our very parish?
5. Though St. Paul was assisted with miraculous endowments, yet
how anxiously did he endeavour to fill up the twofold duties of a be-
liever in Christ, and a minister of his Gospel ! And shall we refuse to
labour with equal earnestness, whose gifts are so mean, and whose
graces are so inconsiderable? Appointed, like the primitive preachers
of Christianity, to be " fishers of men," is it not perfectly reasonable
that we should manifest as great activity with our feeble fines, as St.
Paul was accustomed to discover in the use of his capacious net ? If
that apostle, filled with holy zeal, was enabled to convert more sinners
by a single discourse, than many pastors are known to convert hi a
thousand sermons, should we not, by our uncommon assiduity, supply,
as much as possible, the want of that incomprehensible energy which
accompanied his ministerial labours?
6. Ministers are compared to labourers, who go forth to cultivate the
lands of their master. Now St. Paul, as the foremost of these labourers,
wrought night and day with an extraordinary instrument, which marked
out furrows of an uncommon depth, and ploughed up enfire provinces
on a sudden. He made the fullest proof of his ministry, and by the most
astonishing efforts spread the seed of the Gospel " from Jerusalem round
about unto Ulyricum," Rom. xv, 19. How vast a difference between
the former and latter pastors of the Christian Church ! Many of us are
content to stand altogether idle, till " the night cometh, in which no man
can work," John i.v, 4 ; while others, who are disposed to some little
Vol. 111. 7
98 THE rORTKAIT OF ST. I'AUL.
occupation, employ themselves as workmen who have need to be utterly
ashamed of their insignificant labours, 2 Tim. ii, 15. At best, we hold
but a tardy instrument; an instrument which, with immense toil, will
but barely graze the earth we are called to cultivate. And shall we,
thus unhappily circumstanced, permit our ploughshares to gather rust
during six successive days, and then leisurely employ them by an hour
upon the seventh ? Surel}' such a mode of conduct is as contrary to
common sense as to the example St. Paul has left us.
7. So astonishing is the inconstancy, the weakness, and the depravity
of the human heart, that in spite of all the persevering industry of this
apostle in the vineyard of his Lord, it still brought forth briers and
thorns, to the anguish of his soul. " Behold," saith he to the Corinth-
ians, " the third time I am ready to come unto you for your edifying.
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and
that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not : lest there be de-
bates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings,
tumults : and lest when I come my God will humble me among you,
and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not
repented," Rom. xii, 14-21.
We shall close this chapter by proposing the following queries, which
may be reasonably grounded upon the preceding passage. If the
natural and supernatural talents of St. Paul ; if his zeal, his diligence,
and his apostolic authority, were insufficient to engage his flock to con-
duct themselves as followers of Christ ; if their want of piety drew
from him tears of lamentation, and obliged him to renew liis painful
efforls with redoubled solicitude ; can those pastors be said to possess
the spirit of the Gospel, who behold with indifference the disorders of
that falling Church which Christ has purchased with his own blood?
And if the extraordinary labours of St. Paul were not sufficient fully to
answer the design of the sacred ministry, is it not presumption indeed
to imagine, that our trivial services are sufHcienlly complete ?
CHAPTER VIII.
A farllier reply to the same objection.
When we attack a prejudice that is obstinately defended, it is fre-
quently as needful to multiply arguments as it is necessaiy in a siege to
nuiltiply assaults. Pursumg this method, we shall endeavour, upon
new grounds, to establish the doctrine contended for in the two last
chapters.
1. After exhorting Timothy to labour without ceasing, St. Paul
assigns the following reason for such injunction : " Know," saith he,
" that in the last times" of the Christian Church, " men," who make a
profession of faith, " shall be lovers of their own selves, dcspisers of
those that are good — lovers of j)leasure more than lovers of God ; having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." Now, if Timothy
was exhorted to use all diligence in opposing tiiose evils which were
then only making their approach, is it reasonable that we should be
remiss, who arc unhappy enough to see those last times, in which the
decay of piety, predicted by the apostle, is become universal ? C)n the
rilii PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 99
contrary, is not this the moment in which we should strenuously resist
the overflowings of ungodliness, and fortify those who are not yet swept
away by the impetuous torrent ?
2. When the groat apostle benevolently carried the word of God to
sinners of every ditiercnt nation, he thereby armed against himself the
authority of magistrates and priests, as well Jewish as Pagan. His
universal philanthropy exposed him to the most cruel persecutions.
I'liousands and ten thousands were set in array against him, and the
inhabitants of every kingdom seemed determined to resist or destroy
him in his spiritual progress. He saw these surrounding dangers ; but
he saw them without discovering any symptom of fear ; and rather than
discontinue his painful labours, he cheerfully proceeded to encounter
every threatening evil. We, on the contrary, are appointed to build up
the children of the kingdom in their most holy faith. And shall we
labour less because we can labour with less danger? Shall we neglect
the duties of our sacred function because our superiors in Church and
state permit us to convert simicrs, command us to preach the Gos))el,
erect us temples for the public celebration of Divine woi-ship, and allow
us salaries, that our ministry may never be interrupted by secular cares?
The ministerial services, which St. Paul performed with such unabating
zeal, when his reward was imprisonments and stripes, must we be en-
gaged to dischai'ge by emoluments and honours ? And, after all, shall wc
limit our constrained obedience precisel}' to that point, which will merely
secure us from public depositions and disgrace ?
3. What was the error of Demas ; a man as notorious by his fall
among the evangelists as Judas among the apostles? Demas "loved this
present world," 2 Tim. iv, 10, and, ceasing to imitate the diligence of
St. Paul, ungratefully left him to labour almost without a second. And
will unfaithful evangelists presume, that they may imitate without fear
the apostasy of Demas, and renoiuice \vith impiniity the example of St.
Paul ? If such be their unhappy persuasion, ^ve submit the following
queries to their serious consideration : — Are the souls of men less valu-
able ; is sin of any kind less detestable, or the law of God less severe in
the present day, than ui the earlier ages of the Christian Church ? Have
pastors a right to be remiss while the night of inci'edulily is blackening
around them? Are the attacks of antichristian pliilosophers less fiequent
and audacious at present than in former times ? Or, finally, is the ap-
pearance of our omnipotent Judge no longer expected in the world ?
4. If the apostles and primitive pastors have removed many threaten-
ing impediments out of our way : if they have procured for us our ])resent
advantages, by the most amazing exertions, and at the prodigious j)ricc
of their blood ; surely it can never be imagined that they acted with so
much resolution, and suflered with so much constancy, that we might
become the indolent readers of their unparalleled history. Was it not
rather, that, animated with a becoming sense of their great example, we
might make the highest improvement of our inestimable privileges ?
5. The mountains are now laid low, the valleys are filled up, the
crooked ways are made straight, and we have only to carry that salva-
tion to sinners, for which such wonderful preparations have been made.
And are we negligent in running the errands of everlasting love? And
are we backward in bearing the happiest tidings to the most hapless of
9m 497
100 THE I'OKTRAIT OF ST. I'AVL.
creatures ? No excuse then can possibly be made for this coldness, ex-
cept that which the author of Emilius lias put into the mouth of a ficti-
tious character : " Of what importance is it to me," says the vicar
Savoyard, " what becomes of the wicked ? I am but little concerned in
their future destiny." An excuse for the want of zeal, which can never
be pleaded without reflectmg the utmost disgrace upon humanity.
6. Ye pastors of a flock ever prone to wander ! choose whom you
will follow, philosophers or apostles ; the indefatigable zeal of St. Paul,
or the cruel inditference of the skeptical vicar ? But, if you take the
latter for your model, we solemnly entreat you to lay aside the profes-
sion while you so shamefully renounce the duties of the holy ministry.
" As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and live," Ezek. xxiii,
11. With you, however, it is a matter of very inconsiderable import-
ance, whether the wicked be finally saved or destroyed. And yet, care-
less as you are of its weal or wo, you presume to appear as ministers
of the Church, and as pastors over that little flock, for which the good
Shepherd was content to lay down his life. To rank with the watchful
attendants of the fold is an honour of which you are altogether unwor-
thy ; but you may with propriety be counted in the number of those
ungrateful hirelings, who " care not for the sheep," John x, 13.
8. It is true, you are not without companions, as well ancient as
modern. You have Hophni and Phinehas, Gehazi and Balaam, to keep
you hi countenance ; you have the prophets of Jezebel to plead in your
favour, and every worldly ecclesiastic of the present day to approve
your choice : but apostolical men will resolutely withstand you, like
Elisha and his master, in the cause of deserted tiaith. Ye slothful
domestics of the most diligent Master! Ye cruel attendants of the ten-
derest Shepherd ! say, have ye never heard that Master cryhig out,
with the voice of affection, " Feed my sheep f John xxi, 17. Have 5^6
not seen him conducting his flock to an evangelical pasture, in the
temple, in synagogues, in villages, in houses, in deserts, on the sea
shore, and on the tops of mountains? He anxiously sought out the
miserable. Truth was the guide of his way, charity accompanied his
steps, and his path was marked with blessings. His secret effbils were
more painful than his public labours : he pubhcly instructed through the
day, but he privately agonized in prayer through the night. His first
disciples were anxious to tread in the steps of their adorable Master.
They exercised their ministry within sight of torments and death. And
will you dare to neglect it, now the cry of persecution is hushed? Will
you e(iually despise both the promises and threateuuigs of the Gospel ?
Will you hasten the time of antichrist by an antichristian conduct? And
when the Son of man shall come, shall he find you trampling under foot
the Gospel of his grace? Or, shall he surprise you distrii)uting cards
round the tables of your friends, rather than earnestly inviting those
friends to the table of your Lord ?
O that we could prevail upon you to stand in Noin* proper post, and
act in conformity to your professional character ! While you dream of
security, you are surrounded with the most akirniiiig dangers. " Stand,
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth ; having on the breast-
plate of righteousness, and your feel shod with the preparation of the
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 101
Gospel of peace : above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye
shall be able to quench all the fieiy darts of the wicked. And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God ; pra^dng always with all prayer, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance, and supplications for all saints, [and for the ministers of
the Gospel in particular,] that they may open their mouths boldly, to
make known the mystery of the Gospel, and diffuse abroad, the unsearch-
able riches of Christ," Eph. \i, 14-19 ; iii, 8. Thus quitting yourselves
like men in this sacred warfare, after steadily resisting, you sliall finally
overcome all the strength of the enemy, " by the word of truth, by the
power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on
the left," 2 Cor. vi, 7 : till, having weathered out the evil day, continu-
ing " faithful imto death," ye shall be rewarded with " a crown of ever-
lasting life," Rev. ii, 10.
CHAPTER IX.
A farther refutation of the same objection.
(1.) When we see a number of persons in perilous circumstance^
charity constrains us to make our first efforts in favour of those who
appear to be in the most imminent danger. Such are unholy Chris-
tians. Sinful heathens are doubtless in danger ; obstinate Jews in still
greater peril ; but impenitent Christians are in a situation abundantly
more lamentable than either ; since they oftend against clearer light and
knowledge, equally inattentive to the most gracious promises on the one
hand, and the most terrible menaces on the other. To sin with the New
Testament in our hand, and with the sound of the Gospel in our ears :
to sin with the seal of baj)tism on our forehead, and the name of Christ
in our lips : to sin and receive the holy communion : to ratify and break
the most solemn engagements ; what is this, but earnestly labouring out
our own damnation, and plunging ourselves into those abysses of wretch-
edness which Pagans and Jews are unable to fathom? How eagerly
then should eveiy believer attempt to rescue his falling brethren ; and
especially how anxious should they be to arrest those leaders of the
blind who are drawing their followers to the brink of perdition ! As this
is one of those argimients upon which the truth here pleaded for must
jirincipally rest, we shall consider it in the several points of view under
which it is presented to us in the Gospel.
(2.) The commission of St. Paul was particularly directed to the
Gentiles; yet, betbre he visited their benighted nations, he judged it his
duty to make a full and a free offer of the everlasting Gospel to the
people of the Jews. For the conduct of the apostle in this respect, the
following reasons are to be assigned. First, The promises pertained to
the Jews in a peculiar manner, Rom. ix, 4. Secondly, 'Die children
of Abraham, according to the flesh, had a more threatening piospect
before them, in case of final impenitence, than any other ]>cople upon
eailh. " Tribulation and anguish shall lie upon every soul of man that
doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile," Rom. ii, 9.
('A.) Tlie same reasons, though chiefly the latter, are still to be urged,
102 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
why the ministers of Christ should principally labour among Christians.
For if sinners of the circumcision shall be more severely punished than
the ignorant heatlien, so the apostle declares that sinners, who are bap-
tized into the name of Christ, shall be treated with still greater rigour
than impenitent Jews. " He that despised Moses' law," saith he, "died
without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer
punishment, then, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace ?" Heb. x, 28, 29. If this consideration were accom-
panied with its due et?ect, it would fire us with the most unconquerable
zeal for the salvation of the negligent Christians.
(4.) In one of the last discourses our Lord addressed to the cities of
Galilee, we find him reading over to them this dreadful seiitence of coiv-
demnation : "Wo unto thee, Chorazin, wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if
the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, the}- would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But
I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day
of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which [by thy reli-
gious privileges,] art exalted unto heaven, shah, [for the non-improve-
ment of them,] he brought down to hell." Yea, "it shall be more
tolerable, in the day of judgment, for the land of Sodom, [which has
been, already consumed with fire from above,] than for thee," Matt.
xi, 21-24.
(.5.) To draw the just consequences from this affecting menace, we
must recollect that, when it was pronomiced, the inhabitants of the above
mentioned cities had been favoured, i)ut for a very short interval, witli
the ministry of Christ and his messengers. And if the death and resur-
rection of .lesus were afterward p\iblished among them, it is more pro-
bable that these important facts were published only in a desultor)- and
transient way. Nevertheless, the sinners of Capernaum were thought
worthy of greater punishment than the sinners of Sodom. Hence, we
conclude, that if the sinners of London, Paris, Rome, and (ieneva, have
hardened themselves against the truths of the Gospel for a much longer
continuance than the citizens of Capernaum were permitted to do, there
is every reason to apprehend that their sentence will not only be more
dreadfid than the sentence of Sodom, but abundantly less tolerable than
that which w^as pronounced upon the inhabitants of Galilee.
(6.) ^Vhile we consider the various proportions in which future punish-
ment shall be administered to the wicked of different classes, we may
turn to those remarkable expressions of St. Peter and St. Paul : " If
after having escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge
ol" the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they arc again entangled therein
and overcome ; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
For it had been better for them not to have kno«ii the way of righteous-
ness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy command-
ment delivered unto them," 2 Pet. ii, 20, 21. " If we sin wiffully affer
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking lijr of judgment, and fiery
indignation, whicli shall devour the adversaries," Heb. x, 2(5, 27. These
declarations assist us to discover the truegrtjund of that apostolic exhor-
tation, with w hich we shall close this chapter : " Of some have com-
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 10.3
passion, making a diflerence : and others save with fear, pulhng them
out of the fire," Jude 22, 23.
From this last view of the subject, we may perceive into how danger-
ous an error those persons are fallen, who presume to object agauist
imitating the zeal of St. Paul.
CHAPTER X.
A Jiflh objection answered.
The solidity of the preceding remarks may be acknowledged by many
pastors, who will still excuse themselves from copying the example of
St. Paul.
" It is unreasonable," they will say, " to require that we should
preach the word of God, in season and out of season, as St. Paul once
did, and as Timothy was afterward exhorted to do. We find it, in this
day, a matter of difficulty to prepare any public address that may be
either acceptable to the people, or honourable to ourselves."
To this objection we I'eturn the following replies : —
-(1.) He, who spake as never man spake, rejected the arts of our
modem orators, delivering liis discourses in a style of easy simplicity
and unaffected zeal.
(2.) We do not find that St. Paul and the other apostles imposed upon
themselves the troublesome sei-vitudc of pemiing do\vn their discourses.
And we are well assured, that ^vhen the seventy and the twelve were
commissioned to publish the Gospel, no directions of this nature were
given in either case.
(3.) St. Paul gives the following pastoral instructions to Timothy :
" Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not
the gift that is in thee. Meditate upon these things : give thyself wholly
to them. Take heed unto thyself and to thy doctrine ; continue in
tliem : for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear
thee," 1 Tim. iv, 13, 16. " Preach the word ; be instant in season, out
of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, whh all long suffering and doc-
trine," 2 Tim. iv, 2. Now, had it ever entered into the mind of the
apostle that it would be proper for pastors to compose their sermons in
the manner of rhetoricians, and to deliver them as public orators, he
would most probably have given some intimation of this to his disciple.
In such case he would have held out to his pupil in divinity some instruc-
tions of the following nature : " O Timothy, my son ! I have frequently
commanded thee to labour in the work of the Lord, according to my
example. But as thou art not an apostle, properly so called, and hast
not received the gift of langu;iges, I advise thee to write over thy ser-
mons as correctly as possible. And after this, do not fail to rehearse
them before a mirror, till thou art able to repeat them with freedom and
grace : so that when thou art called upon public duty, thou mayest
eflfectually secure the approbation of thine auditors. Furthermore,
when thou art about to visit any distant Churches, lay up in thy portman-
teau the choicest of thy sermons. And wherever thou art, take care to
liave, at least, one discourse about thee, that thou mayest bo prepared
for any sudden emergency, and never appear unfurnished in the eyes of
104 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. J'AUL.
the people." The idea of such a passage in the Epistles of St. Paul,
whether public or private, is too absurd to be endured.
(4.) If advocates, after hastily considering a question of difficulty, are
ready to plead the cause of their client before a court of judicatui'e ;
can it be possible, that, after several years of meditation and study, a
minister should still be unprepared to plead the cause of piety before a
plain assembly of his unlearned parishioners ?
(5.) When we are deeply interested in a subject of the last import-
ance, do we fhink it necessary to draw up our arguments in an orderly
manner upon paper, before we attempt to deliver our sentiments upon
the matter in hand ? Are not the love and penetration of a parent
sufficient to dictate such advice as is suited to the different tempers and
conditions of his children ? After perceiving the house of our neighbour
on fire, we do not withdraw to our closet to prepare a variety of afl^ect-
ing arguments, by way of engaging him to save both himself and his
family from the flames. In such case, a lively conviction of our neigh-
bour's danger, and an ardent desire to rescue him from it, afford us
greater powers of natural eloquence than any rules of art can furnish
us with.
(6.) Horace observes, that neither matter nor method will be wanting
upon a well -digested subject : —
Cvi lecta patenter erit res.
Nee facundia deseret hunc, nee lucidus ordo.
With how much facility then may suitable expressions be expected to
follow those animating sentiments which are inspired by an ardent love
to God and man ; especially when subjects of such universal concern
are agitated, as death and redemption, judgment and eternity ! Upon
such occasions, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak,
" nor will the preacher be able to repeat a tenth part of the truths which
God has communicated to him, while meditating upon his text." {Act of
Synod, chap, xi.) If malice can furnish those persons with an inex-
haustible fund of conversation, who delight in mahce, how much more
may we suppose the charity of a pastor to furnish him with an inexhaust-
ible fund of exhortation, instruction, and comfort !
(7.) It has been a plea with many ministers of tlie Gospel, that they
neglect to proclaim that Gospel during six days in the week, lest they
should be unprepared to address their parishioners, with propriety, upon
the seventh. With teachers, who are thus scrupulously tenacious of their
own reputation, we may justly be allowed to reason in the following
manner : to what purpose are all those oratorical appendages, with
which you are so studious to adorn your discourses: and who hath
required all this useless labour at your hand? Isaiah i, 11, 12. If a
servant, after being charged by his master with a message of the utmost
importance, should betake himself to his chamber, and defer the execu-
tion of it day after day, would not such a delay be esteemed an unpar-
donable neglect ? Or, if he should attempt to apologize for the omission,
by alleging that he had been busily engaged in learning to repeat, with
precision, the message he had received, and to move upon his errand
with dignity and grace ; would not sucli an excuse be regarded as an
instance of the highest presumotion and folly ? -\nd can we imagine
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 105
that our heavenly Master will overlook that neglect in his public mes-
sengers, which would appear in the conduct of a private domestic so
justly condernnable ?
(8.) What advantage has accrued to the Church, by renouncing the
apostolic method of publishing the Gospel ? We have indolence and
artitice, in the place of sincerity and vigilance. Those public discourses,
which were anciently the eflbcts of conviction and zeal, are now become
the weekly exercises of learning and art. " We believe and therefore
speak," 2 Cor. iv, 13, is an expression that has grown entirely obsolete
among niodern pastors. But nothing is more common among us than
to say. As we have sermons prepared upon a variety of subjects, we
are ready to deliver them as opportunity offers.
(9.) Many inconveniences arise from that method of preaching, which
is generally adopted in the present day. While the physician of souls
is labouring to compose a learned dissertation upon some plain passage
of Scriptui'e, he has but little leisure to visit those languishing patients
who need his immediate assistance. He thinks it sufficient to attend
upon them every Sabbath day, in the place appointed for public duty.
But he recollects not, that those to whom his counsel is peculiarly neces-
sary, are the very persons who refuse to meet him there. His unprofit-
able employments at home leave him no opportunity to go in pursuit of
his wandering sheep. He meets with them, it is true, at stated periods,
in the common fold : but it is equally true, that during every successive
interval, he discovers the coldest indifference with respect to their
spiritual welfare. From this unbecoming conduct of many a mmister,
one would naturally imagine that the flock were rather called to seek
out their indolent pastor, than that he was purposely hired to pursue
every straying sheep.
(10.) Ilie most powerful nerve of the sacred ministry is ecclesiastical
discipline. But this nerve is absolutely cut asunder by the method of
which we now speak. When a pastor withdraws fatigued from his study,
imagming that he has honourably acquitted himself with regard to his
people, he is too apt to neglect that vigilant inspection into families, upon
which the discipline of the Church depends. Such a spiritual instructer
may justly be compared to a vain-glorious pedagogue, who, after draw-
ing up a copy, and adorning it, for several days together, with all the
embellishments of his art, should yet imagine that he admirably per-
formed his part, in preparing it, at length, for his scholars, without any
visible defects. And what could reasonably be expected from the pupils
of such a teacher, but that, fearing neither scholastic discipline, nor par-
ticular inspection, they should neglect to transcribe what their master,
with so much unprofitable toil, had produced ?
(11.) Since the orator's art has taken place of the energy of faith,
what liappy effect has it produced upon the minds of men ? Have we
discovered more fi^equent conversions among us 1 Are formal professors
more generally seized with a religious fear ? Are hbertines more uni-
versally constrained to cry out, " Men and brethren, what shall we do ?"
Acts ii, 37. Do the wicked depart from the Church to bewail their
transgressions in private ; and behevers to visit the mourners in their
affliction ? Is it not rather to be lamented, that we are at this day equally
distant trom Christian charity and primitive simplicit} ?
106 TTU5 ronTRAiT or st. taul.
(12.) Reading over a variety of approved sermons is generally sup-
posed to be preaching the (rospel. If this were really so, we need but
look out some school boy of a toleraljle capacity, and after instructing
him to read over, with proper emphasis and gesture, the sermons of Til-
lotson, Sherlock, or Saurin, we shall have made him an excellent minister
of the word of God. But if preaching the Gospel is to publish among
sinners that repentance and salvation which we have experienced in our-
selves ; if it is to imitate a penitent slave, who, freed from misery and
iron, returns to the companions of liis former slaveiy, declaring the
generosity of their prince, and persuading them to sue for mercy ; — if
this is to publish the Gospel of peace, then it is evident that experience
and sjTnpathy are more necessary to the due performance of this work,
than all the accuracy and elocution that can possibly be acquired.
(13.) When this sacred experience and this generous sympathy Ijegan
to lose their prevalence in the Church, their place was gradually sup-
plied by the trifling substitutes of study and affectation. Carnal prudence
has now for many ages solicitously endeavoured to adapt itself to the
taste of the wise and the learned. But while " the offence of the cross"
is avoided. Gal. v, 11, neither the wise nor the ignorant are effectually
converted. The Gospel is abundantly better suited to the " poor in sjiirit,"
than to those who value themselves as men of sagacity and science.
" I thank thee, O Father," said the lowly Jesus, " that thou hast hid
these thmgs from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes," Matt, xi, 25. These babes, however, in the language of Christ,
are the very persons who have been usually neglected by us, for the
mere gratification of reputed sages. Alas ! how many thousand proofs
do we require to convince us, tliat the wisdom of this world will continue
to trample under foot the pearl of the Gospel, though, in order to secure
its reception, it should be presented among the artificial pearls of a vain
philosophy ?
(14.) In consequence of the same error, the ornaments of theatrical
eloquence have been sought after with a shameful solicitude. And what
has been the fruit of so much useless toil ? Preachers, after all, have
played their part with much less applause than comedians ; and their
curious auditors are still runnmg from the pulpit to the stage, for the
pleasure of hearing fables I'epeated with a degree of sensibility which
the messengers of truth can neither feel nor feign.
Notwithstanding the above remarks have been expressed in the most
pointed manner, we mean not to insinuate that the errors already exposed
are the only mistakes to be guarded against. Extremes of every kind
are to be avoided with equal care. We condemn the carnal prudence
of Christian orators ; but we as sincerely reprobate the conduct of those
enthusiasts who, under pretence that Christ has promised to continue
with his disciples to the end of the world, exhibit the reveries of a heated
imagination for the trutlis of the Gospel. Too many of these deluded
fanatics are found, who, taking their slothfuiness and presumption for
the effects of a lively faith, and an apostolical confidence, repeatedly
affront the Almighty, and justly offend those candid hearers wJio are least
disposed to take offence. Offences will undoubtedly come ; hut it be-
hooves us to make a just distinction between the real offence of the cross,
aiid that which is given by an unlicensed presumption on our own part.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 107
If we are honoured with the pastoral office, let us consider the Holy
Scriptures as an inexhaustible mine of sacred treasures. In the law of
the Lord let us meditate day and night. Before we attem]>t to deliver
evangehcal truths in public, let it be our first care to penetrate our hearts
in private with an adequate sense of those truths. Let us an'ange them
in the most suitable order ; let us adduce and compare the several pas-
sages of Sacred Writ, which appear to support or explain the particular
doctrines we mean to insist upon. But, above all, joining faith and prayer
to calm meditation, after becoming masters of our subject, let us humbly
ask of God that ^apprjrfirt, that lively and forcible elocution, which flows
from the unction of grace.
And here, instead of resting contented with barely requesting, we
should labour to acquire what we seek, by frequently stin'ing up the gift
that is in us. Let us embrace every opportunity of exhorting both be-
lievers and catechumens. Let us carry, with unwearied constancy,
instruction to the ignorant, and consolation to the afflicted. Let us be
faithful in reproving siiuiers of every class, and diligent in training up
the children of our parish.
It is necessary indeed to be scrupulously cautious, lest we abuse the
liberty of preaching from meditation, by becoming followers of those who
are more worthy of censure than imitation. There are pastors of this
kind who, having acquired a good degree of spiritual knowledge, and a
wondei'ful facility of expression, unhappily begin to pique themselves
upon appearing before a numerous assembly without any previous study.
Conscious of their own ability, these self-sufficient preachers make little
or no preparation for one of the most solemn duties that can possibly be
discharged. They hasten to a crowded auditory without any apparent
concern, and coming down from the pulpit with an air of the same easy
confidence with which they ascended it, contentedly return to that habitual
listlessness, which had been interrupted by the external performance of
a necessary work. Alas! if these presuming pastors could be prevailed
upon to write over their sermons, to how much better purpose might
they thus employ their hours, than by heedlessly trifling them away in
frivolous conversation and shameful inactivity !
It is not to imitate examples of this nature that we solicit the ministers
of Christ to recover those hours which are usually employed in com-
posing their weekly discourses. IIow many arc the important occupations
of wliich the faithful pastor has his daily choice ! Tlie wicked are to be
reclaimed, and the righteous established, Hope must be administered
to the fearful, and coin-age to the tempted. The weak are to be strength-
ened, and the strong to be exercised. The sick must be supported, and
the dying prepared for dissolution. By frequent pastoral visits to hamlets,
schools, and private houses, the indefatigable minister should continually
l>e moving through the several parts of his parish ; discov(!ring the con-
dition of those intrusted to his care, and regularly supplying the neces-
sities of his flock ; dilTiising all around instruction and reproof, exhortation
and comfort. To sum up his duties in a single sentence, he should cause
the light that is in him to shine out in every possible direction, before
the ignorant and the lenrned, (he rich anil the poor; making the salva-
tion of mankind his principal pursuit, and the glor)' of God his ultimate
aim.
108 THK rOKTRAIT OF ST. TATIL. ,
Thus, after liaving faithfully performed the work of an evangelist,
when he is about to be removed from his charge by death, or by any
other providential appointment, he may take an affectionate leave of his
people, and say, " Remember, my children, that while I have sojourned
among you, I have not ceased to warn eveiy one of ) ou,* night and day ;
and if my word has not always been accompanied with tears, Acts xx,
31, yet it has constantly flowed from the truest sincerity and afTection."
CHAPTER XI.
A reply to tJie fflh and last objection, which may he urged against " the
Portrait of St. Pavl."
Those persons who have already so earnestly resisted the truths for
which we contend, will not fail to exclaim in the last place, by way of
an unanswerable argument, " What you require of pastors is unreason-
able in the highest degree. If they are indeed called to labour for the
salvation of souls, with the zeal and assiduity of St. Paul, the holy ministry
must be regarded as the most painful of all professions, and, of conse-
quence, our pulpits will be shortly unoccupied."
Monsieur Ostervald, who foresaw this objection, has completely an-
swered it in his Third Source of the Corruflion which reigns among
Christians. " It will not fail to be objected," says this venerable author,
" tliat if none were to be admitted to holy orders, except those who are
possessed of every necessary qualification, there could not possibly be
procured a sufficient number of pastors for the supply of our churches.
To which I answer, that it would be abundantly better to expose ourselves
to this inconvenience, than to violate the express laws of the written
word. A small number of chosen pastors is preferable to a multitude of
unqualified teachers. [One Elijah was more powerful than all the pro-
phets of Baal.] At all hazards we must adhere to the command of CJod,
and leave the event to Providence. But, in reality, this dearth of pas-
tors is not so generally to be apprehended. To reject those candidates
for holy orders whose labours in the Church would be altogether fruitless,
is undoubtedly a work of piety ; and such alone would be repulsed by
the apprehension of a severe scrutiny, and an exact discipline. Others,
on the contrary, who are in a condition to fulfil the duties of the sacred
office, would take encouragement from this exactness and severity ; and
the ministry- would every day be rendered more respectable in the world."
Behold an answer truly worthy an apostolical man !
If it still be objected by the generality of pastors, that what we require
is as unreasonable as it is unusual : permit me to ask you, my lukewaiTn
brethren, whether it be not necessary that you should use the same dili-
* It is liighly reasonable that pastors should give evening instructions to those
who have been engaged, through the course of the day, in their different calhngs.
This season, whether it be in the most dreary or tiie more pleasing part of the
year, is peculiarly suited to works of devotion. Such a custom might, at least,
prevent many young persons from mixing with that kind of company, and fre-
quenting those places, which would tend to alienate their minds from religion
and virtue.
THK I'ORTKxUT OF ST. I'AUL. 109
gence in your sacred profession with which your neighbours are accus-
tomed to laboiu' in their worldly vocations and pursuits ?
The fisherman prepares a variety of lines, hooks, and baits ; he knows
the places, the seasons, and even the hours that are most favourable to his
employment ; nor will he refuse to throw his line several hundred times
in a day. If ho be disappointed in one place, he cheerfully betakes
himself to another ; and if his ill success be of any long continuance, he
will associate with those who are greater masters of his art. Tell me,
then, ye pastors, who make the busmess of a fisherman the amusement
of many an idle hour, do ye really imagine that less ardour and perse-
verance are necessary to prepai'c souls for heaven, than to catch trout
for your table ? The huntsman rejoices in expectation of the promised
chase. He denies himself some hours of usual repose, that he may
hasten abroad in pursuit of his game. He seeks it with unwearied
attention, and follows it from field to field with increasing ardour. He
labours up the mountain : he rushes down the precipice : he penetrates
the thickest woods, and overleaps the most threatening obstacles. He
practises the wildest gestures, aiid makes use of the most extravagant
language ; endeavouring, by every possible means, to animate both dogs
and men in the furious pursuit. He counts the fatigues of the chase
among the niunber of its pleasures : and through the whole insignificant
business of the day he acts with as much resolution and fervour as
though he had undertaken one of the noblest enterprises in the world.
The fowler with equal eagerness pursues his difi'erent game. From
stubble to stubble, and from cover to cover, he urges his way. He
pushes through the stubborn brake, and takes his way along the pathless
dingle. He traverses the gloomy momitain, or wanders devious over
the barren heath : and, after carrying arms all day, if a few trifling
birds reward liis toil, he returns rejoicing home.
Come, ye fishers of men ! who, notwithstanding your consecration to
God, are frequently seen to paitake of these contemptible diversions ;
come, and answer, by your conduct, to the following questions : — Is the
flock committed to your charge less estimable than the fowl which } ou
so laboriously pursue ? Or are you less interested in the sal\ ation of
your people, than in the destruction of those unhappy quadrupeds which
give you so much siUy fatigue, and aflbrd you so much brutal pleasure ?
Permit me still farther to carry on my argument. Was the panting
animal which usually accompanies your steps in the last mentioned
exercise incautiously to plunge into a dangerous pit ; though faint with
the labours of the day, and now on your return, would you carelessly
leave him to perish ? Would you not rather use every eflbrt to extri-
cate him from apparent death ? Could you even sleep or oat till you
had aflbrded him every possible assistance? And yet you eat, you
sleep, you visit ; nay, it may be you dance, you hunt, you shoot, mid
that without the least inquietude, while your flocks arc rushing on from
sin to sin, and falling from [)recipice to precipice. Ah ! if a thousand
souls are but comparable to the vilest animal, and if these are heedlessly
straying through the ways of perdition, may we not reasonably exlioit
you to use every eflbrt hi preser\'ing them from tlie most alarming dan-
ger, and in securing them from the horrors of everlasting death ?
But, passing by those amusements which so generally engage your
IIU THiJ POKTKAIT 01' Sr. lAVh.
atteiitioii, let nie reason with you Irorn one of the most laborious occu-
pations of life. You are called to be " good soldiers of Jesus Christ,"
2 I'ini. ii, 3. And can you possibly imagine that less resolution and
patience are required in a spiritual warrior, than in an earthly soldier ?
Behold the mercenary, who, for little more than food and clothing, is
preparing to go on his twentieth campaign ! Whether he is called to
freeze beneath the pole, or to melt under the line, he undertakes the
appointed expedition with an air of intrepidity and zeal. Loaded with
the wea{)ons of his warfare, he is harassed out with painful marches :
and after enduring the excessive fatigues of the day, he makes his bed
upon the rugged earth, or, perhaps, passes the comfortless niglit under
arms. In the day of battle he advances against the enemy amid a
shower of bullets, and is anxious, in the most tremendous scenes, to
give proofs of an unconquerable resolution. If through the dangers of
the day he escape unhui't, it is but to run the hazard of another en-
counter ; perhaps to force an intrenchment, or to press through a breach.
Nothing, however, discourages him ; but, covered with wounds, he goes
on unrepining to meet the mortal blow. All this he suffers, and all this
he performs in the seiTice of his superiors, and with Utile hope of ad-
vancement on his own part.
Behold this dying veteran, ye timorous soldiers of an omnipotent
Prince ! and blush at your want of spiritual intrei)idity. Are you not
engaged in the cause of humanity, and in the service of God ? Arc
you not commissioned to rescue captive souls from all the powers of
darkness ? Do you not tiglit beneath his scrutinizing eye who is King
of kings, and Lord of lords ? Are you not contending within sight of
eternal rewards, and with the ho[)e of an unfading inheritance ? And
will you complain of difficidties, or tremble at danger ? Will you not
only avoid the heat of the engagement, but e\'en dare to ^^•ithdraw from
the standard of your sovereign Lord ? Let me lead you again into the
field ; let me draw you back to the charge ; or, rather, let me shame
your cowardice by pointing you to those resolute commanders who have
formerly signalized themselves under the banners of your Prince.
Emulate their example, and you shall share their rewards.
But if, hitherto, you have neither contemplated the beauty, nor expe-
rienced the energy of those truths by which St. Paul was animated to
such acts of heroism, it is in vaui that we exhort you to shine among
the foremost ranks of Christians as inextinguishable lights, holding up,
against every enemy, as a " two-edged sword," Heb. iv, 12, " the word
of everlasting life," Phil, ii, 15, 16. Instead of this, it will be necessary
to place before you the excellence and efficacy of this apostle's doc-
trines, together with the inlinitc advantages which they procure to those
who cordially embrace Ihcm. And this we shall endeavour to do in the
second part of this work. Meanwhile, wo will conclude this first part
with a short exhortation from St. Chrysostom's fifty-ninth sermon upon
St. Matthew. " Since the present life is a continual warfare ; since we
arc at all times surrounded by a host of enemies, let us vigorously
oppose them, as our royal Chieftain is pleased to command. Let us fear
neither labour, nor wounds, nor death. Let us all conspire nuitually to
assist and defend one another. And let our magnanimity be such as may
add lirnmess to the most resolute, and give courage to the most cowardly."
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
PART II.
Tlie doclritves of an evangelical pastor.
The minister of the present age, being destitute of Christian piety, is
neither able to preach, nor clearly to comprehend tlie truths of the
Gospel. In general, he contents himself with superficially declaring
certain attributes of the Supreme Being ; while he is fearful of speaking
too largely of grace or its operations, lest he should be suspected of
enthusiasm. He declaims against some enormous vice, or disjilays the
beauty of some social virtue. He affects to establish the doctrines of
heathen philosophers : and it were to be wished that he always carried
his morality to so high a pitch as some of the most celebrated of those
sages. If he ever proclaims tlie Lord Jesus Christ, it is hi but a cur-
sory way, and chiefly when he is obliged to it by the return of particular
days. He himself continues the same through all seasons ; and the
cross of Christ would be entirely laid aside, unless the temporal prince,
more orthodox than tiie muiister, had appointed the passion of our Lord
to be the preacher's theme during certain solemnities of the Church.
With the evangehcal pastor it is wholly otherwise. " Jesus Christ,"
he is able to say with St. Paul, " sent me to preach the Gospel, not
witii wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
ellect. For the preaching of the cross is to Uicm that perish foolish-
ness ; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is
written, I will destroy the vain wisdom of the wise, and will bring to
nothing the false understanding of the prudent. Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that the world by this
wisdom, [this boasted philosophy,] knew not God, [but rested in mate-
riahsni and idolatry,] it pleased God, by the foohshness of preaching, to
save them that believe," 1 Cor. i, 17-21. The preaching of the true
minister, which commonly passes for folly in a degenerate world, is that
through which God employs his power for the conversion of sinners,
and the edification of believers. It comprehends all that is revealed in
the Old and New Testament : but the subjects on which it is chiefly
employed are the precepts of the decalogue, and the tru.ths of llie apos-
tles' creed. They may be reduced to four points : (1.) True repent-
ance toward God. (2.) A lively faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (3.)
'I'be sweet hope w hicli the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in the hearts of
believei-s. (4.) That Christian charily which is the abundant source
of every good work. In a word, the good pastor preaches repentance,
faith, hope, and charity. These four viilues include all others. These
' are four pillars which support tlie glorious temple of which St. Paul and
St. Peter make the following mention : " Ye are God's building. Ye
also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house."
112 THK I'OKTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL.
By searchiiijj mtu the solidity ot'tliese lour supports, we iimy observe
how vast a ditlbrencc there is between the materials of which they are
composed, and that untempered mortar with which the ministers of the
present day are striving to erect a showy building upon a sandy
foundation.
The evangelical pastw preaches true repentance toward God.
The true minister, convinced, both by revelation and experience, that
Jesus (Christ alone is able to recover diseased souls, employs every effort
to bring sinners into the presence of this heavenly Physician, that they
may obtain of him spiritual health and salvation. He is fully persuaded
that he who is not " weary and heavy laden," will never apply for
relief; that he who is not "poor in spirit," will constantly despise the
riches of the Gospel ; and that they who are unacquainted with their
danger, will ttirn an inattentive ear to the loudest warnings of a com-
passionate Saviour. His first care, tlien, is to press upon his heai-ers
the necessity of an unfeigned repentance ; that, by breaking the reed
of their confidence, he may constrain them with the " poor," the
" miserable," the " blind," and the " naked," to fall before the throne of
Divine justice. Whence, after seeing themselves condemned by the
law of God, without any ability to deliver their own souls, he is con-
scious that they will have recourse to the throne of grace, entreating, like
the penitent publican, to be "justified freely by the grace of God, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Rom. iii, 25. It is in this state
of humiliation and compunction of heart, that sinners are enabled to
experience the happy effects of that evangelical I'epentance, which is
well defined in the fourteenth chapter of the Helvetic Confession. " By
repentance," say our pious Reformers, " we mean that soitow, or that
displeasure of soul, which is excited in a sinner by the w^ord and Spirit
of God, &c. By this new sensibility, he is first made to discover his
natural corruption, and his actual transgressions. His heart is pierced
with sincere distress. He deplores them before God. He confesses
(hem with confusion, but without reserve ; he abhors them with a holy
itulignatio!! ; he seriously resolves, from the present moment, to reform
his conduct, and religiously apply himself to the practice of every virtue
during the remainder of his life. Such is true repentance : it consists,
at once, in resolutely renouncing the devil, with every thing that is sin-
fid ; and in sincerely cleaving to God, with every thing that is truly
good. But we expressly say, this repentance is the mere gift of God,
and can never be effected by our own power," 2 Tim. ii, 2.5.
It appears, by this definition, that our Reformers distinguished that by
the name of repentance, which many theologists have called the awaken-
ing of a soul from the sleep of carnal security ; and which others have
frequently termed conversion. But, if sinners imderstand and obtain
the disposition here described, no true minister will be overanxious that
they should express it in any particular form of words.
THE rORTRAIl' or ST. I'.VIL. US
How sin and the necessity of repentance entered into the uvrld.
Observe the account which the evangeHcal minister gives, after Moses
and St. Paul, of the manner in which that dreadful infection made its
way into the world, that corrupt nature, that " old man," that " body of
death," which Christ, the seed of the woman, came to destroy. " When
the tempted woman saw that [the fruit of the tree, which God had for-
bidden her to touch,] was pleasant to the eyes, good for food, and to bo
desired to make one wise, she took thereot and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her, and he did eat," Gen. iii, 6. Thus entered
into (he very fountain head of our nature that moral evil, that compli-
cated malady, " that lust of the flesh, that lust of the eyes, and that
pride of life," 1 John ii, 16, which the second Adam came to crucify in
the flesh, and which is still daily crucified in the members of his mysti-
cal body.
If Jesus Christ never publicly discoursed concerning the cntiy of sin
into the world, it was because his sermons were addressed to a people
who had been long before instructed in a matter of so gi'eat importance.
On this account, he simply proposed himself to Israel, as that promised
Messiah, that Son of God and Son of man, who was about to repair the
error of the first Adam, by becoming the resurrection and the life of all
those who should believe in his name.
St. Paul was veiy differently circumstanced, when labouring among
those nations which were unacquainted with the fall, except by uncer-
tain and corrupt tradition. Behold the wisdom with which he unfolds to
the heathen that fundamental doctrine, which was not contested among
the Jews. " The first man Adam," the head of the human species,
" was made a living soul ;" but Jesus Christ, " the last Adam, was made
a quickening spirit ;" and he also is the head of the liuman species ; for
" the head of every man is Christ," 1 Cor. xi, 3. " The first man is of
the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy [worldly :] and as is the
heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly [regenerate.] And as
we have borne the image of the earthy, we, [whose souls are already
regenerate,] shall also bear the complete image of the heavenly. When.
this mortal shall have put on immortality : for the flesh and blood, [which
we have from the first Adam,] cannot inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor.
XV, 45-53.
As human pride is continually exalting itself against this humiliating
doctrine, so the true minister as constantly repeats it, crying out in the
language of this great apostle : " All iinregenerafe, men are under sin ;
there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God :
they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable.
The way of peace have they not known : there is no fear of God before
their eyes. We know that whatsoever things the law saith, [the natural
or the Mosaic law,] it saith to them that are under the law ; that every
mouth may be stoi)ped, and all the world may become guilty before God,"
Rom. iii, 9-19. "There is no diftcrence ; for as ail have sinned and
come short of the glory of God, [so all equally need the merits and
assistance of] Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in his blood," Rom. iii, 22-25. All those, therefore, who,
Vol. Ill, 8
114 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
neglecting Christ, rely upon " the works of the law, are under the
curse ;" and all their endeavours to deliver themselves by their imper-
fect obedience, are totally vain. " For it is written, Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of
the law to do them." Thus, by denouncing maledictions, as dreadful as
the thunders from Mount Sinai, against every act of disobedience, "the
law becomes our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be
justified by faith," Gal. iii, 10-24.
This doctrine is mainlained by all the Christian Churclies.
When an evangelical minister insists upon the fall, the corruption and
the danger of unregenerate man, he acts in conformity to the acknow-
ledged opinions of the purest Churches. As I chiefly write for the
French Protestants, I shall here cite the Confession of Faith now in use
among the French Churches. " We believe," say they in the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh articles of their creed, " that man, having been created after
the image of God, fell by his own fault from the grace he had received ;
and thus became alienated from God, who is the fountam of holiness and
felicity ; so that having his mind blinded, his heart depraved, and his
whole nature corrupted, he lost all his imiocence. We beheve that the
whole race of Adam is infected with this contagion, that in his person
we forfeited every blessing, and simk into a state of universal want and
malediction : wc believe also that sin, &c, is a perverseness producing
the fruits of maUce and rebellion !"
The Reformed Churches of Switzerland make as humiliating a con-
fession. " Man," say they, " by an abuse of his liberty, suffering him-
self to be seduced by the seq:)ent, forsook his prunitive integrity. Thus
he rendered hunself subject to sin, death, and every kind of misei-y ;
and such as the first man became by the fall, such are all his descend,
ants, Rom. v, 12. When we say, man is subject to sm, we mean by
sin, that corruption of nature, which from the fall of the first man, has
been transmitted from father to son ; vicious passions, an aversion to
that which is good, an inclination to that which is evil, a disposition to
malice, a bold defiance and contempt of God. Behold the unhappy
effects of that corruption, by which we are so wholly debilitated, that of
ourselves we are not able to do, nor even to choose, that which is good."
{Helvetic Confession, chap, viii.) Every man may find m himself suffi-
cient prools of those painful truths. " God is the Creator of man," say
the fathers who composed the Synod of Berne, " and he intended that
man should be entirely devoted to his God. But this is no longer his
nature ; since he looks to creatures, to his own pleasure, and makes an
idol of himself." (Acts of Synod, chap, viii.)
This doctrine is also set forth in the Augsburg Confession ; as well as
in the ninth and tenth articles of the Church of England, where it is
expressed in the following terms : " Original sin standeth not in the ibl-
lowing of Adam, but it is the faidt and corruption of the nature of eveiy
nian, whereby he is vciy far gone from original righteousness, and is, of
his own nature, inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary
tg the Spirit ; and therefore, in every person born into the world, it
THE PORTHAIT OF ST. PAUL. 115
deserveth God's wrath and damnation." " The condition of man after
the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by
his o\\ n natural strengtii and good works, to faith and calhng upon God.
Wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable
to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may
have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will."
Nothing less than a lively conviclion of the corruption, weakness, and
misery described in these confessions of faith, can properly dispose a
man for evangehcal repentance.
Wilhoitt evangpJkal repentance, a lioely failh in Christ, or regeneraiion
by the Holy Spirit, will appear not only unnecessary, hut absurd.
As the knowledge of our depravity is the source from whence evan-
gelical repentance and Christian humility flow, so it is the only neces-
sary preparation for diat living faith, by which we are both justified and
sanctified. He who obstinately closes his eyes upon his own wretched-
ness, shuts himself up in circumstances which will not suffer him to
receive any advantage from that glorious Redeemer, whom " God hath
anointed to preach tlie Gospel to the poor ;" to heal the " broken hearted ;
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind ; to set at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord," Luke iv, 18, 19. Reason itself declares, that if sin.
ful man is possessed of sufficient ability to secure his own salvation, he
needs no other Saviour, and "Christ is dead in vain," Gal. ii, 21. In
short, so far as we are unacquainted with our degenerate estate, so far the
important doctrine of regeneration must necessarily appear superfluous
and absurd.
Here we may perceive one grand reason why the mmisters of the
present day, who are but superficially acquainted with the depravity of
the human heart, discourse upon this mysterious subject in a shght and
unsatisfactory manner.
The true minister, on the contrary, following the example of "his great
jMaster, speaks upon this momentous change with affection and power.
Observe the terms in which our Lord himself declares this neglected
doctrine : " Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except a man be born of
water, and of the Spirit, lie cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John
iii, 5. As though he should say. The natural man, how beautiful an
appearance soever he may make, is possessed of a heart so desperately
wicked, that unless it be broken by the repentance which John the Bap-
tist preached, and regenerated by the faith which I declare, he can never
become a citizen of heaven. For tlie doors of my kingdom must remain
everlastingly barred against those " ravening wolves," who disguise them-
selves as sheep, Matt, vii, 15; and those painted hypocrites, who salute
me as their Lord, without embracing my doctrines, and observing my
commands. " Veiily," therefore, " 1 say unto you," my first disciples
and fi'iends, " Except ye be converted, and become as little children,"
who are strangers to envious, ambitious, or impure thoughts, " 5 e shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matt, xviii, 3.
Such is the doctrine I hat is still able to convert every inquiring Nico-
demus. At first it may perplex and confound them ; but, at length.
116 THE roKTRAIT OF ST. FAVL.
submitting to the wisdom of their heavenly Teacher, they will cry, " Im-
part to us, Lord, this regenerating faith :" and when once they have
obtained their request, they will adopt the prayer of the disciples, Luke
xvii, 5, and proceed, like them, from faith to faith, till all things in their
regenerate hearts arc become new.
But if this doctrine is a savour of Ufe unto some, it is also a savour of
death unto others. It gives oftence to blinded bigots, while modern infi-
dels strengthen themselves against it, as Pharaoh once strengthened
himself against the authority of Jehovah. "Thus saith the Lord," said
Moses to that obstinate monarcli, " Let my people go, that they may
serve me," Exod. viii, 1 ; and the haughty infidel replied, " Who is the
Lord, that I should obey his voice ? I know not the Lord, neither will
I let Israel go," Exod. v, 2. Come up out of mystic Egjpt, saith the
Son of God to every sinful soul : " Follow me m the regeneration," Matt,
xix, 28, and I will teach you to " worship God in spirit and in truth,"
John iv, 24. " And who is the Son of God ?" rephes some pettj^ Pha-
raoh : " I know neither him nor his Father, nor conceive myself in any
wise obliged to obey his commands."
Impious as this language may appear, the conduct of every iiTeligious
Christian must be considered as equivalent to it, according to those words
of our Lord, " He that despiseth" my servants, and my doctrines,
" despiseth me ; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me,"
Luke X, 16. Whatever mask such a Pharisaical professor may wear,
he " loves the world :" therefore " the love of the Father is not in him,"
1 John ii, 15. He hates both Clirist and his Father, John xv, 24, his
repentance is superficial, his faith is vain, cmd, sooner or later, his actions
or his words will testify that he is an utter enemy to Christ and his
members.
How the faithful 'pastor leads sinners to repentance.
What was spoken by God to Jeremiah, may in some sort be applied
to the true minister : " I have set thee to root out and to plant, to pull
down and to build," Jer. i, 10. For before the sacred vine can be planted,
the thoms of sin must be rooted up, together with the thistles of counter-
feit righteousness. And before the strong tower of salvation can be
erected, that spiritual Babel must be overthrown, by which presumptuous
men are still exalting themselves against heaven.
To lead sinners into a state of evangelical repentance, the true minister
discovers to their view the corruption of the heart, with all the melan-
clioly eft'ects it produces in the character and conversation of unregenerate
men. After he has denounced the anathemas of the law against par-
ticular vices, such as swearing, lying, evil speaking, extortion, drunken-
ness, &c, he points out the magnitude of two general or primitive sins. The
greatest offence, according to the law, he declares to be that by which
Its first and great command is violated : consequently, those who love
not God beyond all created beings, he charges with living in the habit
of damnable sin ; since they transgress that most sacred of all laws, which
binds us to love the Deity with all our heart, Matt, xxii, 37, 38. Hence
he goes on to convict those of violating a command hke unto the first,
M'ho love not their neighbour as themselves, Matt, xxii, 32 ; and to these
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 117
two sins, as to their deadly sources, he traces all tiie crimes which are
forbidden in the law and in the prophets, Matt, xxii, 40.
And now he proceeds to lay open, before the eyes of professing Chris-
tians, the two greatest sins which are committed under the Gospel
dispensation. If the two great commands of God, mider the new cove,
nant, are to this effect, that we believe on liis Son Jesus Christ, and love
one another, 1 John iii, 23, it is evident that the two greatest sins under
the Gospel are, the want of that living faith which unites us to Christ,
and that ardent charity, which binds us to mankuid in general, as well as
to believers in particular, with the bands of cordial aftection. As dark-
ness proceeds from the absence of the sun and moon, so from these two
sins of omission flow all the various offences which are prohibited by the
evangelical law. And if those who are immersed in these primitive sins
be withheld from the actual commission of enonnous offences, they are
not on this account to be esteemed radically holy, since they are possessed
of that very nature fi'om which every crime is produced. Sooner or
later temptation and opportunity may cause some baneful shoots to spring
forth in their outward conduct, in testimony that a root of bitterness hes
deep within, and that the least impious of men carry about them a degene-
rate nature, a body of sin and death.
To give more weight to these observations, he sets forth the greatness
of the Supreme Bemg, enlarges on his justice, and displays the severity
of his laws. He tramples under foot the Pharisaical holiness of sinners,
that he may bring into estimation the real virtues of the " new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." To
awaken those who are sleeping in a state of carnal security, he denounces
the most alanning maledictions, calhng forth against them the thunders
of Mount Sinai, till they are constrained to turn their faces Zion ward ;
till they seek for safety in the Mediator of the new co\'enant, and hasten
to " the sprinkling of that blood, which speaketh better things than the
blood of Abel," Heb. xii, 24.
By this method, he conducts his wandering flock to the very point
where ancient Israel stood, when God had prepared them to receive the
law by his servant Moses. Now, after the people had heard the thun-
derings, and " the noise of the tnmipet ;" after they had seen " the light-
ning, and the mountain smoking," Exod. xx, 18 ; when, unable any longer
to gaze on the dreadful scene, " they said unto Moses, Speak thou with
us and we will hear ; but let not God speak unto us, without a Mediator,
lest we die," Exod. xx, 1 9. Then it was that Moses began to console them
in the following words : " Fear not : for God is come to prove you, and
that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not," Exod. xx, 20. So
in the present day, they only who are brought to this poverty of spirit
are properly disposed to receive the riches of Divine mercy. As soon,
therefore, as the evangelical minister has sufficiently alarmed a sinner with
the terrors discovered upon Mount Sinai, he anxiously prepares him for the
consolations of the Gospel, by a sight of the suffering scene upon Calvary.
Many pious divines have supposed that by preachmg the cross of Christ
alone, mankind might be brought to true repentance. What the fathers
of the Synod of Berne have said upon this point deserves the attention of
those who desire successfully to use that spiritual weapon which is
"sharper than any two-edged sword," Heb. iv, 12.
118 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PATTL.
" Tlie knowledge of sin," say they, "must of necessity be drawn from
Jesus Christ. The apostle writes thus : ' God commendeth his love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,' Rom.
V, 8. It follows, that sin must have made us abominable and extremely
hateful, since the Son of God could no other way deliver us from the
burden of it, than by dying in our stead. Hence we may conceive what
a depth of misery and cormption there is in the heart, since it was not
able to be purified, but by the sacrifice of so precious a victim, and by
the sprinkling of the blood of God," that is, of a man miraculously formed,
in whom dwelt " all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," Colos. ii, 9.
" Tlie apostles have clearly manifested the sinfulness of our nature by
the death of Christ ; whereas the Jews, after all their painful researches,
were not convinced of sin by the law of Moses. After a solid knowledge
of sin has been drawn from the passion of our Lord, there will naturally
flow from this knowledge a true repentance ; that is, a Uvely sorrow for
sin, mingled with the hope of future pardon. To this necessary work
the Holy Spirit also powerfully contributes, bringing more and more to
the light, by its mysterious operations, the hidden evils and unsuspected
corruptions of the heart ; daily purifying it from the filthiness of sin, as
silver is purified by the fire." {Acts of Synod, chap, viii, ix, xiv.)
How tlie propJiets, Jesus Christ, his forerunner, and Jiis apostles, prepared
simiers for repentance.
Ever faithful to the word of God, the minister of the Gospel endea-
vours to humble the impenitent, by appealing to the sacred writers, and
particularly to the declarations of Jesus Christ.
The corruption of the heart is the most ancient and dreadful malady
of the human race. Man had no sooner made trial of sin, but he was
driven by it from an earthly paradise. Gen. iii, 24. And so terrible were
its first effects, that the second man was seen to assassinate the third.
Gen. iv, 8. This moral contagion increased through eveiy age, to so
astonishing a degree, that, before the deluge, " God saw that the wick-
edness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," Gen. vi, 5. " After tlie
flood God still declared the imagination of man's heart to be evil from
his youth," Gen. viii, 21. "The heart of man," saith he again, long
after that time, " is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked :
who can know it ? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins," Jer.
xvii, 9, 10.
Our Lord himself, who perfectly " knew what was in man," .John ii,
25, being the Physician who alone is able to heal us, and the Judge who
will render to every one accortling to his works,-— our Lord has described
mankind alienated from the chief good, filled with aversion to his people,
and enemies to God himself. " I send you forth," saith he to his disci-
ples, " as lambs among wolves," Luke x, 3. " If the world hate you,
ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own ; but because I have chosen you out of
the Avoild," that ye should walk in my steps, " therefore the world hateth
you. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you," Jolui
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 119
XV, 18, 19, 20. " All these things >vill they do unto you for my name's
sake, because," notwithstanding tlioir Deism and Pol34heism, " they know
not him that sent me. For he that hateth me hateth my Father also,'*
John XV, 21, 23. " These things have I told you, that, when" they
shall chase you from their Churches, as demons would chase an angel
of light, "ye may remember that I told you of them," John xvi, 4.
The Jews were, doubtless, in one sense, the most enlightened of all
people ; seeing they otFercd the true God a public worship unmixed with
idolatry, were in possession of the Law of Moses, the Psalms of David,
together with the writings of the other prophets, in which the duties
required of man, both with respect to God and his neighbour, arc traced
out in the most accurate manner. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ represents
this enlightened people as universally corrupted, in spite of all these
advantages. " Did not Moses," saith he to them, " give you the law ?
And yet none of you kcepcth the law," John vii, 19.
What appears most extraordinary in the sermons of our Lord, is the
zeal with wlxich he bore his testimony against the virtues of those Jews
who were rej)uted men of uncommon devotion. Although they piqued
themselves upon being eminently righteous, he declared to his disciples
that, unless their righteousness should " exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees," they should " in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven," Matt, v, 20. And obseiTe the manner in which he generally
addi'essed those religious impostors : " Wo unto you, scribes and Phari
sees, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess [full of covetous
desires and disorderly passions.] Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that
which is within, that the outside may be clean also," Matt, xxiii, 25, 26.
Nothing is more common than that blindness which suffers a man to
esteem himself better than he really is, and this blindness is, in every
period, and in every place, the distuiguishing characteristic of a Pharisee.
This species of hypocrisy, with which St. Paul was once elated, agrees
perfectly well with the ordinary sincerity of nominal Christians, who
blindly regard amusements the most trifling and expensive as allowable
and innocent pleasures ; who look upon theatres as schools of virtue ;
intrigue and deceit as prudence and fashion ; pomp and profusion as
generosity and decorum ; avarice as frugality ; pride as delicacy of
sentiment ; adultery as gallantry ; and murder as an affiiir of honour.
To all such modern Christians may we not, with propriety, repeat
Avhat our Lord once openly addressed to their predecessors ? Without
doubt, we are authorized to cry out against them, with a holy zeal,
" Wo unto you, hypocrites ! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness," Matt, xxiii, 27. " Ye outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
Of hypocruy, because your virtues have more of appearance than
solidity ; and of injustice, because you render not that which is due to
God, to Cesar, or to your fellow creatures, whether it be adoration,
fear, honour, support, or good will. Matt, xxiii, 28.
But if the depravity of the Jews in general, and of the Pharisees in
particular, appears abundantly evident ; must we suppose there were no
happy exceptions among them ? It is true the royal prophet declares,
120 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
" The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all
gone aside, they are all together become filthy. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one," Psalm xiv, 2, 3. But were not the disciples
of our Lord to be considered in a different point of \'iew ? No. Even
after the extraordinary assistance afforded them by the Son of God, the
apostles themselves did but confirm the sad assertion of the psalmist.
Our Lord, upon whom no appearances could impose, once testified to
James and John that, notwithstanding their zeal for his person, they were
unacquainted with his real character ; and that, instead of being influ-
enced by his Spirit, they were actuated by that of the destroyer, Luke
ix, 55. " Ye, then, being evil," said he to all his disciples, Matt. \ii, 11.
" Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil V John vi, 70.
" One of you shall betray me," — Peter, who is the most resolute to con-
fess me, shall " deny me thrice — and all ye shall be offended because
of me," Matt, xxvi, 21, 34, 31. Lastly: our Lord constantly repre-
sented the unregenerate as persons diseased and condemned. " They
that are whole," said he, " have no need of the physician, but they that
are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,"
Mark ii, 17. " Ye are of this world, therefore I said unto you that ye
shall die in your sins ; for if ye believe not that I am He," and refuse to
observe the spiritual regimen I prescribe, " ye shall die in jour sins,"
John viii, 23, 24. " Except ye repent, ye shall perish," Luke xiii, 5.
It is notorious, that John the Baptist prepared the way of his adorable
Master by preaching the same doctrine. " O generation of vipers,"
said he to the Pharisees and Sadducees, to the profane and professing
part of the nation, " who hath warned you to flee from the \vrath to
come ? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance," Matt, iii, 7, 8.
It is equally well known that the disciples were instructed by Christ
himself to tread in the steps of his foreruimer. " It behooved," said he,
" Christ to suffer ; and that repentance should be preached in his name
among all nations," Luke xxiv, 46, 47. Hence an apostle was heard to
cry out : " God now commandeth all men every where to repent," Acts
xvii, 30. And at other times, the same divine teacher was inspired to
write as follows : " We, who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the
Gentiles, were by nature the children of wrath even as others," Gal. ii,
15 ; Eph. ii, 3. " For we were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and emj, hateful,
and hating one another," Tit. iii, 3.
The same doctrine was constantly held forth by the other apostles, as
well as by St. Paul. "In time past," saith St. Peter, "we have wrought
the will of the Gentiles, walking in lasciviousness, lusts, revellings," &c.
1 Pet. iv, 3. <' The whole world lieth in wickedness," saith the beloved
John, 1 John v, 19 ; and St. James solemnly testifies, that every " friend
of the world is the enemy of God," James iv, 4.
lliis humiliating doctrine, which the world universally abhors, is a
light too valuable to be hidden under a bushel : and till it be raised, as it
were, upon a candlestick of gold, we can never hope to see the visible
Church enlightened and reformed.
TIIE PORTBAIT OF ST. PAUL. 121
Observations upon the repentance of tvorldly men.
If it be inquired, Do not all ministers preach repentance ? we answer,
that, ordinarily, true ministers alone preach true repentance. The
preachers of the da}^ as they are conformable to the world in other
things, so they are perfectly contented with practising the repentance of
worldly men. Now, as he who receives only base coin, cannot possibly
circulate good money, so he who satisfies his own heart a\ ith a short-
lived sorrow for sin, cannot possibly give free course to that evangeUcal
repentance which the Gospel requires. And it is observable, that the
hearers of such ill-instructed scribes generally fix those bounds to their
repentance which are satisfactory to their impenitent pastors.
Tlie repentance we here condemn may be known by the following
marks : —
1. It is superficial, and founded only upon the most vague ideas of
our corruption. Hence, it camiot, hke that of David and Jeremiah,
trace sin to its source, and bewail the depravity of the whole heart,
Psalm h, 5 ; Jer. xvii, 9.
2. It is Pharisaical, regarding only outward sins. The righteousness
of the Pharisees rested upon the most triflmg observances, while they
neglected those weighty commands of the law which respect the love
of God and our neighbour, Matt, xxiii, 23. They afflicted themselves
when they had not scrupulously paid the tenths of their herbs : but they
smote not upon their breasts when they had rejected the glorious Gospel
of Jesus Christ. In the same dangerous circumstances are those peni-
tents of the present day who are less sorrowful on account of ha\'ing
offended God and rejected Christ, than that they are become objects of
ridicule, contempt, or punishment, by the commission of some impious
or dishonourable action. We frequently hear these false penitents be-
wailing the condition to which they have reduced themselves, and giving
vent to the most passionate expressions of soitow. But when are they
seen to afflict themselves because they have not been wholly devoted to
God ? Or when do they shed a single tear at the recollection that they
have not cherished their neighbour as themselves ? Are they ever
heard to lament the want of that faith in Christ " which worketh by
love ?" Gal. v, 6. Are they ever engaged in seeking after that com-
munion of saints by which believers become of one heart and one soul ?
Alas ! so far are they from this, that they continue equally tranquil under
the maledictions of the Gospel as midcr those of the law. The}' hear,
without terror, those di'eadful words of the apostle, " If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha," 1 Cor.
x\i, 22. And though they neither love nor know him, }-et they vainly
looli upon themselves as godly mourners and unfeigned penitents.
3. This repentance is unfruitful, inasmuch as those who repent after
this manner, are utter strangers to compunction of heart. None of
these are constrained to cry out, " fllcn and brethren, what shall we
do ?" Acts ii, 37. They come not to the Redeemer among such as
" are weary and heavy laden," Matt, xi, 28. They have no experience
of that godly sorrow by which the ti'ue penitent dies to sin : and so far
are they from being born again of the Spirit, that they neither expect
122 THK rORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL.
nor desire any sucli regeneration. In sliort, this repentance is rarely as
sincere as tliat of Judas, who confessed liis sin, justified the innocent,
subdued his ruhng passion, and returned the mone} he had so dearly
obtained.
Evangelical repentance is an incomprehensible work to the generality
of ministers. Wherever it appears they are prepared to censure it ;
and are earnest in cxliorfing men to flee from it, rather than request it
as a gift from God. Thus, when they behold any one truly mourning
under a sense of sin, smiting upon his breast with the publican, strip-
ping off, with St. Paul, the covering of his own righteousness, and
inquiring, with the convicted jailer, " What must I do to be saved ?"
Acts xvi, 30, they supjjose these to be certain signs of a deep melancholy.
They imagine the conversation of some enthusiast has driven the man
to despair, and will not scruple to affirm that he has lost the proper use
of his reason. So true it is, that " the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God," 1 Cor. ii, 14 ; nor is even able to form
any just ideas of that repentance, which is the first duty imposed upon
us by the Gospel, and the first step toward that holiness, without wliich
no man shall see the Lord.
The moralists of the present time acknowledge that all men are sin-
ners ; but they neglect to draw the just consequences from so sad a
truth. To be foimd a sinner before an infinitely holy and just God, is
to forfeit, at once, both our felicity and existence. To appear as an
oflender in the eyes of our all-seeing Judge, is to lie in the condition of
a broken vessel, whicli the potter throws aside as refuse : it is to stand
in the circumstances of a criminal, convicted of \iolatmg the most sacred
laws of liis prince. The two most important laws of God, are those
which require piefy toward liimself, and cliarity toward our neighbour.
Now if we have violated both the one and the other of these laws, and
tliat tiujcs without number, it becomes us not only to confess our trans-
gression, but to consider our danger. When a traitor is convicted of
treason, or an assassin of murder, he immediately expects to hear his
sentence pronounced. And thus, when a sinner confesses himself to be
such, he makes a tacit acknowledgment that sentence of death might
justly be pronounced upon him.
Some persons are naturally so short sighted, that they can only dis-
cover the most striking objects about them. Many in the moral world
are in similar circumstances, to whom nothing appears as sin, except
impieties of the grossest kind. If we judge of God's commands accord-
ing to tlie prejudices of these men, idolatry is nothing less than the act
of prostrating ourselves before an idol ; and murder is merely the act
by winch a man destroys (he hfe of his fellow creature. But if these
deluded ])ersons coidd contemplate sin in a Scriptural light ; if they
could avail themselves of the law of God, as of an observatory erected
for sacred meditation, their moral ^iew would be sufficiently sti'ength-
ened to discover the following truths : —
1. If we have not, at all times, placed a greater confidence in the
Creator than in any of his creatures; if we have either feared or loved
any one more than our celestial Parent, we have then really set up
another God, in opposition 1o the Lord of heaven and earth.
2. If, neglecting to worship the Almiglity in spirit and truth, we have
THR PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 123
siifiered ourselves to be seduced by any splendid vanity of the age, we
have sinned in the same degree, as though we had fallen down before a
molten image.
3. If, in our conA ersation, our reading, or our pra} ers, we have ever
irreverently pronoimced the " name of God," we have then taken that
" sacred name in vain :" and God himself declares that he wiU not hold
sucli a one guiltless.
4. If we have refused to labour diligently, thi'ough the week, in the
work of our particular calling; or if we have ever made the Sabbath a
day of spirit\ud indolence and frivolous amusement ; then we have
neglected and broken that law which we are peculiarly commanded to
" remember and keep."
5. If we have, at any time, been wanting in obedience, respect, or
love to our parents, our pastors, our magistrates, or to any of our supe-
riors ; or if we have neglected any of those duties, which our relations
in society, or our particular vocation has imposed upon us, we have
merited that God should cut us ofl' from the land of the living.
6. If we have weakened our constitution by excess of any kind ; if
we have struck our neighbour in a moment of passion ; if we have ever
spoken an injurious word; if we have ever cast a look directed by
malice ; if we have ever formed in our hearts a single evil wish against
any person whatever, or if we have ever ceased to love our brother ; —
we have then, m the sight of God, committed a species of murder,
1 John iii, 15.
7. If we have ever looked upon a woman with any other feelings
than those of chastity, Matt, v, 28 ; or if we have at any time cast a
wishful glance upon the honours and pleasures of the world ; we have
sufficiently proved the impurity of our nature, and must be considered
as hving in enmity with God, James iv, 4.
8. If we have received the profit annexed to any post or emplo}"ment,
without carefully discharging the duties incumbent upon us in such situa-
tion ; or if we have taken advantage either of the ignorance or the neces-
sity of others, in order to enrich ourselves at their expense ; we may justly
rank ourselves with those who openly violate the eighth command.
9. If we have ever offended agamst truth m our ordinary conversa-
tion ; if we have neglected to fulfil our promises ; or have ever broken
our vows, whether made to God or man ; we have reason, in this respect,
to plead guilty before the tribunal of immutable truth.
10. If we have ever been dissatisfied with our lot in life ; if we have
ever indulged restless desires, or have given way to envious and irregu-
lar wishes ; we have then assuredly admitted into our hearts tliat covet-
ousness which is the root of every evil.
When St. Paul considered the law, in this point of view, he cried out,
"It is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin," Rom. vii, 14. And
when Isaiah, passing from the letter to the spirit, discovered the vast
extent of the decalogue, he exclaimed, "Wo is me ! for I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips," Isa.
vi, 5. If our selt-applauding moralists would be persOUded to weigh their
piety in the same balance, they would find it as defective at least as that
of Isaiah and St. Paul.
Here, perhaps, some objecting Pharisee may say, " If I have sinned
124 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
in some degree, yet I have not committed such crimes as many others
have done, and I trust that God will not he severe in attending to trifling
sins." But, (1.) These pretended trifling sins are ordinarily of so great
a numher, that the multitude of them becom-^s equivalent to the enormity
of those crimes which are rarely committed; so mountains and seas are
but collections of grains of sand and drops of water.
2. Every voluntary transgression argues a real contempt of the legis-
lator's authority; and in such contempt there is found the seed of every
sin that can possibly be committed, in opposition to his express com-
mand. All the commnnds of God, whether they be great or small,
ha\e no other sanction than that wliich consists in his Divine authoiity,
and this authority is trampled under foot by every petty delinquent, as
well as by every daring transgressor.
3. ITiose which we usually esteem trivial sins, are the more danger-
ous on account of their being less attended to. They are committed
without fear, without remorse, and generally without intermission. As
there are more ships of war destroyed by worms than by the shot of
the enemy, so the multitude of those who destroy themselves through
ordinary sins, exceeds the number of those who perish by enormous
offences.
4. We have a thousand proofs that small sins will lead a man, by
insensible degrees, to the commission of greater. Nothing is more com-
mon among us than the custom of swearing and giving way to wrath
without reason ; and these are usually regarded as offences of an incon-
siderable nature. But there is every reason to believe, that they who
have contracted these vicious habits, would be equally disposed to per-
jury and min-der, were they assailed by a forcible temptation, and unre-
strained with the dread of forfeiting their honour or their life. If we
judge of a commodity by observing a small sample; so by little sms, as
well as by trivial acts of virtue, we may form a judgment of the heart.
Hence the widow's two mites appeared a considerable oblation in the
eyes f)f Christ, who judged by them how rich an offering the same
woman would have made, had she been possessed of the means. For
the same reason, those frequent exclamations, in which the name of
(Jod is taken in vain, those poignant railleries, and those frivolous lies,
which are produced in common conversation, discover the true disposi-
tion of those persons, who, without insult or temptation, can violate the
sacred laws of" piety and love. The same seeds produce fruit more or
less perfect, according to the sterility or luxuriance of the soil in which
they are sown. Thus the very same principle of malice which leads a
child to torment an insect, acts more forcibly upon the heart of a slan-
derous woman, whose highest joy consists in mangling the reputation
of a neighbour ; nor is the cruel tyrant actuated by a different princi-
ple, who finds a barbarous pleasure in persecuting the righteous and
shedding tlie blood of the innocent.
If prejudice will not allow these observations to be just, reason declares
the contrary. The very same action that, in certain cases, would be
esteemed a fiiling, becomes, in some circumstances, an oftence ; and,
in otiiers, an enormous crime. For instance : if I despise an inferior,
I commit a fault ; if the offended party is my equal, my fault rises in
mngnitude : if he is my superior, it is greater still : if he i? a respecia-
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 125
ble magistrate — a beneficent prince — if that prince is my sovereign lord,
whose lenity I have experienced ailer repeated acts of rebelhon ; m ho
has heaped upon me many kindnesses ; who means to bestow upon me
still greater i'avours : and if, after all, I have been led to deny and
oppose him, my crime is undoubtedly aggravated, by all these circum-
stances, to an extraorditiaiy degree. But if this offended benefactor is
Lord of lords, and King of kings — the Creator of man — the Monarch of
angels — the Ancient of days, before whom the majesty of all the monarchs
upon earth disappears, as the lustre of a thousand stars is echpsed by
the presence of the sun — if this glorious Bemg has given his beloved Sou
to sutler infamy and death, in order to procure for me eternal Ufe and
celestial glory — my crime must then be aggravated in proportion to my
own meanness, the greatness of benefits received, and the dignity of my
exalted Benefiictor. But our imagination is bewildered, when we attempt
to scan the enormity which these accumulated circumstances add to
those acts of rebellion, denominated sins.
They who are not workmg out their " salvation with fear and trem-
bling," Phil, ii, 12, must necessarily live in the practice of some consti-
tutional sin ; and this self indulgence, however secret it may be, will not
suffer them to perceive the demerit of their daily transgressions. Au
old debauchee, whose chief deUght has been in seducmg women, or an
infamous murderer, who has shed human blood like water, may as easily
conceive the horror that adultery and murder excite in viituous souls.
Before we can form a rational judgment of sin, and the punishment it
deserves, it becomes us to entertain just ideas of moral order, to mark
the obligation laid upon the supreme Legislator to maintain that order
by wholesome laws, and to discover, in some degi'ee, the sanctity, the
excellence, and the extent of those absolute commands. It is necessary
to imderstand the dependence of the creature upon the Creator ; since the
image formed by the presence of an object before a mirror, is not more
dependent upon that object, than all orders of created beings depend
upon the Creator ; if he withdraw his pi'otecting hand, they are no more ;
if he stretch out the arm of his vengeance, they are plunged, at once,
into an abyss of miseiy. We must reflect upon all the various obligations
under which we lie to the Almighty, as Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and
Comforter. We must consider those examples of his vengeful justice,
which he has placed before our eyes, on purpose to awaken our fears,
together with the unmerited favours by which he has constantly sought
to engage our gi'ateful affections. It becomes us likewise to obsexTC the
vanity of all those appearances by which we are allured into sin : and
lastly, it is necessary to remember that " God Avill bring every work
into judgment, with every secret thing," Eccles. xii, 14. While we pay
not a proper attention to every one of these circumstances, we must
necessarily form an imperfect judgment concerning the nature of sin,
the severity with which God has determined to punish it, and the great-
ness of that expiatory sacrifice by virtue of which his justice and his
mercy unite in pardoning the penitent.
When the law of God is wilfully transgressed, it is ridiculous in any
man to attempt the justification of himself, by pleading that he has com-
mitted no enormous crimes ; or that, if ever he has been guilty of any
such offences, his good actions have always been sufficient to counter.
126 THE lOKTRAlX Ol' ST. l^AUt.
balance their demerit. Frivolous excuses ! Is not one treasonable act
sufficient to mark the traitor? Is not that soldier punished as a deserter,
who Hies his colours but a single time ? And does not a woman forfeit
lier honour by one moment of weakness 'i
Though we grant, there are some sms of a peculiarly atrocious kind ;
yet as murder will always appear, before an earthly tribunal, accord-
ing to its horrible nature, so sm will ever be considered as such before
an infinitely holy God. If a man, accused of having wilfully poisoned
a fellow creatiu'c, should address his judge in terms like these : " The
cliarge brought against me is just ; but let it be considered that the per-
son I have destroyed was only an infant — that he was the child of a
common beggar — and that this is the only murder I have committed
through the whole of my life. On the other hand, I have been a con-
stant benefactor to the poor ; and surely a thousand acts of charity will
abundantly outweigh one little dose of arsenic." "No:" the judge
would answer, " when you prolonged the life of the indigent by your
ahns, you merely performed a duty which is universally required of
every worthy citizen ; and the law allows you nothing on this account.
But if you have given the smallest dose of poison to any human creature,
with an intent to destroy his life, the law pronounces you a murderer,
and will punish you as such."
After our first parents had offended by eating the forbidden fruit, they
had but vainly excused themselves in saying, "We have only gathered that
which appeared to be of little worth : we have tasted it but once : more-
over, our labour in the garden is of much greater value than the fruit we
have taken. Lord ! condemn us not to death for so inconsiderable an
offence." Such, however, are the frivolous excuses with which eveiy
blinded moralist contents his seared conscience, and Avith which he
hopes to satisfy his omniscient Judge. When St. Paul was one of this
class, he practised upon himself the same delusions. Capable only
of natural sentiments, the hidden truths of a spiritual law were not only
incomprehensible, but vain and foolish things in his estimation. This
we learn from the following passage in his Epistle to the Romans : " I
was aUve without the law once," paying little attention to the spirituality
of its precepts, or the severity of its threatenings, and indulging no sus-
picion either of my corruption or of my condemnation. " But when the
commandment came," in its spiritual energy, " sin revived," assuming
an appearance suited to its infernal nature, and, receivuig a sentence of
death in myself, " 1 died. I had not then known sin, but by the law ;
for I had not known lust," which is the source of e\ery evil, and the first
cause of our condenmation, " except the law had said, I'hou shalt not
covet," Rom. vii, 9, 7.
Every sincere Christian, ai imitation of this apostle, may with pro-
priety say. There are various sins, which I had never seen as such, but by
the light of the Gospel : lor example, I had lived in security with respect
to abusing the faculty of speech, and had never known the Almighty's
intention of judging me upon that article, if Christ himself had not openly
declared, " Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment : lor by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou siialt be condemned," Matt, xii, 36, 37. If those
who trust in their own righteousness would seriously examine themselves
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUI. 127
by the twofold law'of Moses and of Christ, they would fonn a now judg.
merit of their spiritual circumstances, and pass, with St. Paul, from the
state of the Pharisee into that of the publican.
Farther : sins of omission, as well as those of commission, are suffi-
cient to draw upon us the maledictions of the law, which equally com-
mands us to do good and to abstiiin from evil. Offences of this nature
are seldom regarded as sins by the generality of mankind : and hence
they are wholly imalarmed at the recollection of them. To lack dili-
gence in our duties, moderation in our joys, attention in our prayers, and
zeal in our devotions ; to Uve without gratitude toward our Divine Bene-
factor, without resignation under losses, patience in affliction, confidence
in God during times of danger, and content in the state to which he has
called us • to want humility toward our superiors, courtesy toward our
equals, affability toward our inferiors, meekness toward those who dis-
please us, faitht'ulncss to our word, strict truth in our conversation, or
charity in the judgment we form of others : all tiiese are things that
never disturb the repose of a worldly man ; nor does he esteem them as
real offences in the sight of God. He considers not, that an inattentive
nurse may as effectually destroy a child by withholding from it proper
nourishment, as though she obliged it to sip a poisonous draught ; that
a soldier would be condemned to death, if tlie enemy should surprise a
town while he was sleeping on his post, equally as though he had been
busy in opening the gates for their admission ; and that Christ repre-
sents the want of a holy fervour as the grand reason why lukewarm
Christians excite in him the utmost detestation and abhorrence, Rev. iii,
16. An entire chapter in the Gosj)el is employed to teach us, that sins
of omission will constitute the principal cause of a sinner's condemnation
at the last day. The slothful servant is cast into outer darkness, not
for having robbed another of his talents, but for the non-improvement
of his own : the foolish virgins are excluded from the marriage feast,
not for having betrayed the bridegroom, but because they were unpre-
pared to receive him : and every Christian is acquainted with that terri-
ble sentence, which shall one day be pronounced upon the wicked :
" Depart from me, ye cursed ; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me
no meat," &c. Matt. xxv. To have that religion, " which is pure and
imdefiled before God," it is not only necessary that we " keep ourselves
unspotted from tlie world," but we must also " visit the fatherless and
widows in their atfliction," James i, 27 ; relieving the unfortunate to the
utmost of our ability, and exerting our whole power in spreading truth
and happiness among all around us.
Thus inmtcd, at length, from many a dangerous shelter, unhumbled
sinners will still presume to adopt the following plea : " We pray, we
fast, we give alms, we receive the holy sacrament ; and what more do
you require?" Such was the foundation of the ancient Pharisees' hope:
but Christ and his apostles overthrew their vain confidence, by the same
arguments which evangelical ministers are still obliged to turn against
multitudes of religious professors, who indulge an exalted opinion of their
own contem])tible mei'its.
The Gospel recjuires, say these faithful pastors, that to the external
marks of religion, you should be careful to add humility and charity :
and if these two capital graces are wanting, your religion is Inil a body
128 THK rOKTUAIT OF ST. TAIX.
without a soul. You have received the holy sacraments of our Church :
but what salutary effects have they produced in your hfe and conversa-
tion ? Tlie circumcision, which saved the Jews, was not the circumcision
of the flesh, but that of the heart, Rom. ii, 29 : and the baptism, which
saves Christians, is not that by which the body is sprinkled with water,
but that which purifies the soul, 1 Pet. iii, 21. So the passover, which
was acceptable to God on the part of the Jews, consisted not simply in
eating tlie paschal lamb, but in penetrating their souls with gratitude, on
recollecting the many wonderful deliverances which the Almighty had
wrought for liis people. And the communion, which is acceptable on
the part of Christians,- consists not merely in receiving the consecrated
elements, as various classes of sinners are accustomed to do ; but in
imiting themselves to the Lord by a living faith, and to all his members
by an ardent charity. You pray — and did not the Pharisees so ? Yea,
they w'ere remarkable for their long and zealous pra} ers : but, alas !
while they acknowledged "God with their lips, their hearts were far
from him," Isaiah xxix, 13. You give alms, but, if you mean with these
to purchase heaven, you do but deceive your ov/n souls, while your pre-
tended charity degenerates into insolence : or, if you merely seek to pro-
cure the reputation of being charitably disposed ; you have your reward.
You fast — but if you do this chiefly through custom, or through respect
to the orders of your prince, your fast can no more be counted religious
than the regimen prescribed you by a physician. And if these facts
have not produced in you a sincere repentance, and a true conversion,
however you may regard them as acts of devotion, they are in reality no
other than acts of hypocrisy. Moreover, the Pharisees fasted twice in
the week ; while you, it may be, are among the number of those who
imagine they have made a valuable sacrifice to God, by abstaining from
a single repast in a year.
As Pharisaical moralists " have sought out so many inventions,"
Ecclcs. vii, 29, to evade the necessity of an unfeigned repentance ;
and as philosophizing Christians rise up with one consent against this
doctrine of the Gospel, we shall conclude this subject by disclosing the
sources of their common error.
1. There are phantoms of virtue, or virtues purely natural, which
pass in the world for Divine. But who ever imagined the dove to be
really virtuous because she is not seen, like the eagle, to make a stoop
at birds of a weaker frame than herself? Or who supposes wasps to be
generous insects, because they are observed mutually to defend them-
selves when their nest is attacked? Is not the conjugal and maternal
tenderness of the human species apparent, in an eminent degree, among
various tribes of the feathered kind ? And do we n"ot see among bees
and ants that ardent jiatriotism which was so highly extolled among the
Romans ? Does not the spider exhibit as manifest proofs of ingenuity
and vigilance as the most industrious artist? And do no* carnivorous
animals discover all that fearless intrepidity which is so universally
boasted of by vain-glorious heroes ? Let us not mistake m a matter of
so much importance : as nothing but charity can give to our alms the
value of good works, so nothing less than the fear of God, and a sincere
intention of pleasing him, can give to our most valuable propensities the
Btamp of solid virtues. If we could completely expose the worthless
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 129
alloy, which worldly men are accustomed to pass off as sterling virtue,
many of those who now esteem themselves rich in good works, would
be constrained to " abhor themselves, and repent in dust and ashes,"
Job xhi, 6.
2. Many persons indulge too favourable ideas of the human heart,
through their ignorance of that unsullied purity which God requires of
his intelligent creatures. They judge of themselves and others as a
peasant judges of a theme replete with solecisms, who, far from ex-
pressing the discerrmient of a critic, admires the vast erudition of the
young composer. Thus some external acts of devotion are applauded
by undiscerning Christians as commendable works, which, in the sight
of God, and before holy spirits, appear altogether polluted emd worthy
of punishment.
3. If we are sometimes deceived by our own ignorance, we more
frequently impose upon others by our innate hypocrisy. Uru-egenerate
men, after having thrown a cloak over their distinguishing vices, are
anxious to make a parade of virtues which they do not possess. The
proud man is sometimes observed putting on the garb of humility, and
with the most lowly obeisance, professing himself the very humble ser-
vant of an approaching stranger. Immodesty is frequently masked with
an affected air of chastity and bashfuhiess ; hatred, envy, and duplicity,
veil themselves under the appearances of good nature, friendsliip, and
simplicity : and this universal hypocrisy contributes to render its prac-
titioners less outwardly offensive than they would othenvise be ; as an
unhandsome woman appears less defective to a distant beholder, after
having nicely varnished over the blemishes of her face.
4. It frequently happens, that one vice puts a period to the progress
of another. Thus vanity, at times, obliges us to act contrary to the
maxims of avarice, avarice contrary to those of mdolence, and indolence
contrary to those of ambition. A refined pride is generally sufficient to
overcome contemptible \'ices, and may influence its possessor to the per-
formance of many apparently virtuous actions : hence the impious and
sordid Pharisee went regularly to the temple : he piayed, he fasted, he
gave alms ; and, by all these appearances of pietj' and benevolence,
acquired the commendation of the world. Society makes a kind of gain
by these acts of dissimulation, which are as the homage paid to virtue
by vice, and by impietv- to devotion. But, notwithstanding every plausi-
ble appearance that can possibly be put on, when the minister of the
Gospel declares the fall of man, together with the absolute need of
regeneration, he is supported at once by revelation, reason, and ex-
perience.
5. If the moral disorder, with which human nature is infected, appear
not always at its utmost height, it is because regeneration having com-
menced in many persons of every rank, the wicked are overawed by the
influence of their example. Add to this, that God restrains them, as
with a bridle, by his providence, and by those motions of conscience
which they vainly endeavour to stifle. It is notorious, that the fear of
public contempt and punishment is sometimes able to arrest the most
abandoned in their vicious career ; since they cannot discover what they
really are, without arming against themselves the secular power. Thus
the terror which prisons and gibbets inspire, constrains ravening wolves
Vol. III. 9
130 THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL,
to appear in the garb of inoftensive sheep. But is it possible, that
innocence so constrained shoukl be accounted of any value even among
heathens themselves ? It is impossible, since we find one of their own
poets declaring —
Odcrunt pcccare malt, formidine jxejke.
The wicked abstain from mischief through fear of punisiiment. And
all the recompense he conceives due to such guiltless persons, consists
in not becoming the food of ravens upon a gibbet : —
Non pasces in critce corvos.
G. If servile fear is sometimes the cause of our innocence, necessity
is more commonly the cause of our apparent virtues. A youth of any
modesty is generally cautious among his superiors, who afford him neither
money to indulge, nor liberty to discover his inclinations. Now, if this
forced discretion should, at length, become habitual to him, he may in
such circumstances esteem hunself a virtuous man, because he has not,
like the son of a dissolute courtier, plunged himself into every kind of
impiety. Whereas had he enjoyed but equal liberty with the licentious
rake, he might have surjiasscd him in every sinful excess. On the other
hand, when an infamous voluptuary, enfeebled either by age or by his
frequent debaucheries, finds it absolutely needftil to live in a more sober
and orderly style, immediately he takes himself for another Cato ; not
considering that necessity alone is the source of his temperance. The
least excess disorders his health, and the weakness of his stomach obliges
him to abstain from those luxurious feasts, of which he can still converse
with so much satisfaction. If such a one be virtuous, because no longer
able to rush into his former excesses, then we may prove the most
incorrigible robber to be an honest man, while the irons are on his
hands, or when scared by the officers of justice, he flies to some secret
retreat. Has that woman any reason to boast of her virtuous conduct,
who was never solicited by those men who were most likely to have
triumphed over her modesty ? And yet, many such, filled with self
approbation, will frequently applaud their own innocence, placing that
to (he account of virtue, which was merely owing to providential cir-
cumstances ; or, perhaps, to the want of personal attraction. Such
plausiWe appearances no more merit the commendation due to solid
virtue than the sickly wolf, who peaceably passes by a flock of sheep,
can be said to deserve the caresses which a shepherd bestows upon his
faithful dog.
7. Effectually to impose upon others liy a beaiififul outside, we prac-
tise a deeper deceit upon our own hearts ; and very frequently we suc-
ceed as well, in hiding from ourselves our own evil dispositions, as in
concealing from others our unworthy actions. Coidd we discover all
that secretly passes in the world, we should not want demonstraUve
proofs of the depravity of the human heart. But why need we go
abroad in search of a tnith, which is easily evidenced at home ? Had
we ourselves but dared to have executed openly, what we have acted in
imagination, when our irascible or concupiscible passions have been
roused, where should we have hidden our guilty heads, or how should
we have escaped the sword of justice ? Convinced too late of our
degenerate nature, we should, haply, have smitten upon our breasts,
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 131
With the repentant pnbhcaii, adopting long ago his humiliating confes-
sion, in the anguish of our souls. Every thinking person must allow,
that had evil intentions fallen under the cognizance of hiunan laws, and
had the secular power possessed equal abiUty to punish them, as it
punishes those actions, of which they are the veiy root and soul, the
whole earth must, in such case, have become as vast a scaffold, as it is
now a place of graves. Can it be necessary to multiply observations
upon this head, when the Almighty, whose mercy and justice are infi-
nite, sufficiently declares the universal depravity of mankind, by the
variety of scourges with which he is constrained to punish both individuals
and common weah lis ?
8. If the children of this world are unable to form any just concep-
tion of the human heart and its evil propensities, it is because they are
in the number of those natural men, of whom the Apostle Paul makes
mention, 1 Cor. ii, 14. And such, having a natural antipathy to the
Gospel, while they are ever ready to cast reproach u]x>n the taitht'ul, are
equally prepared to favour those of a like disposition with themselves.
Thus Herod, Caiaphas, and Pilate, mutually overlooked the faults of each
other, while they united in accusing and persecuting Christ.
It is usual with many, who are destitute of true religion, to esteem
some of their sinful companions as moral and well-disposed men. But,
were they themselves to be really converted, their error, in this respect,
would soon become apparent. Upon daring to oppose any torrent of
impiety with the zeal of their heavenly Master, instead of finding among
their associates any natural disposition to real virtue, thev would meet
with indisputable proofs, in spite of a thousand amiable, quahties, that all
unregenerate men resemble one another in their " enmity against God,"
Rom. viii, 7. Yes ; Avhether they inhabit the banks of the Thames or
the Seine ; the lake of Genesareth or that of Geneva ; they are, in the
sight of God, as filthy swine trampling under foot the pearls of the
Gospel, Matt, vii, 6, or like " ravening wolves," Matt, vii, 15, outrage-
ously tearing in pieces the Lamb of God.
It might, perhaps, have been objected that this portrait is overcharged,
had not Christ himself, who is immutable Truth, and unsearchable Love,
penciled out the gloomiest traits observable in it. Following such a
guide, though we may give much oflence, yet we can never err.
The second point of doctrine, insisted upon by the true minister, is a living
faith.
To show the necessity of repentance, without publishing the remission
of s'ins, through faith in Jesus Christ, would be to open a wound without
binding it up. It would be leading sinners to the brink of a tremendous
gulf, and cutting off all possibility of their retreat, lint nothing can be
more contrary to the intention of the faithful minister, them to sport with
the miseries of man, or ultimately to aggravate his distress.
When he has discovered to his hearers that natural propensity to evil,
which manifests its existence in eveiy heart, by a variety of external
transgressions : when he has convinced them, by the word of God,
and bv an a)>peal " to every man's conscience," 2 Cor. iv, '2, that they
132 THK rOKTRAlT OF ST. PACI,.
are unable to deliver themselves, either from that fatal propensity, or its
dreadful consequences : after he has thus demonstrated the need in
which they stmid of a Redeemer, who hath " all power in heaven and
in earth," Matt, xxviii, 18; if they "harden not their hearts," Psalm
xcv, 8 ; if they stand, like the tirst sinner, naked and trembling before
God, Gen. iii, 10, having received the sentence of death in themselves,
2 Cor. i, 9 : in a word, when they cry out, like the publicans and sol-
diers alarmed by the preaching of John, " What shall we do ?" Luke iii,
12 ; they are then properly disposed to receive "the glorious Gospel of
Christ," 2 Cor. iv, 4, and will be enabled to experience its powerful
0 fleets. From this time, the evangelical pastor affectionately preaches
remission of sins through taith in the name of a merciful Redeemer.
This is the very same method which Christ and his forerunner pur-
sued. " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world," was the cry of John the Baptist, John i, 29. And " blessed,"
said our Lord, " are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven," Matt, v, 3. " God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life," John iii, 16. " He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ;
but the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii, 36. " Whosoever shall
drink of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst ; but it shall
be in him a well of water, [a source of sacred consolation,] springing up
into everlasting life," John iv, 14. Again, when it was inquired by the
multitude, "What shall we do, that wc may work the works of God ?
Jesus said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent. And this is the will of liim that sent me, that every
one which seeth the Son, aJid believeth on him, may have everlasting
life : and I will raise him up at the last day," John vi, 28, 29, 40. Thus
it was, that our adorable Master proclaimed salvation through faith in
himself. And, indeed, it was for this end alone that he appeared upon
earth ; as we learn from the last address he made to his disciples :
" It behooved," said he, " Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day, that remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, begirming at Jerusalem," the abode of his murderers, Luke
xxiv, 46.
Observe the great commission given to those messengers of peace.
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.
He that beUeveth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth
not shall be damned," Mark xvi, 15, 16. To the same purpose was the
commission with which the Apostle Paul was afterward honoured. I
have " appeared inito thee," said the persecuted Jesus, " for this pur-
pose, to make thee a minister and a witness to the Gentiles, unto whom
I now send thee, to open their eyes, to turn Ihem from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgive-
ness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified, by faith
that is in me," Acts xxvi, 16, 17, 18.
The apostles unanimously preached in obedience to the orders, and m
conformity to the example of their benevolent Lord. And all true
ministers, instructed by the same Divine Teacher, continue to proclaim
(he glad tidings of the Gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ ; laying an
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 133
much stress, in all their sermons, upon this efficacious grace, as the
apostle of the Gentiles was accustomed to do in all his epistles. Take
a few instances of St. Paul's usual custom in this respect. After having
convinced the Romans of their corruption and miser)', he sets before
them "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous-
ness for the remission of sins that are past : that he might be just, and
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," Rom. iii, 24, 25, 26.
" Therefore," continues he, " being justified by faith, we have peace
with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. v, 1. To the Cor-
inthians he writes : " Brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I
preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand ;
by which also ye are saved, unless ye have beUeved in vain," 1 Cor. xv,
1, 2. For "ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus," 1 Cor. vi,
IL "God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciUation ; to wit, that God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them : for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v, 18,
21. To the Galatians : "Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith, and not by
the works of the law," Gal. ii, 16. Before "faith came, we were
kept imder the law. AVherefore the law was our schoolmaster to brmg
us unto Christ. But after that faith is come, we are no more under a
schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus," Gal. iii, 23-26. To the Ephesians : " Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath made us accepted in the
Beloved : in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgive-
ness of sins," Eph. i, 3, 6, 7. " By grace are ye saved through faith ;
and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest
any man should boast," Eph. ii, 8, 9. " Finally, my brethren — put on
the whole armour of God — above all, taking the shield of faith, where-
with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked," Eph.
vi, 1(), 11, 16. To the Philippians ; " Stand fast in one spirit, with one
mmd, striving together for the faith of the Gospel," Phil, i, 27, " We
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Yea, I
count all things but loss, that I may win Christ, and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of (iod by
faith," Phil, iii, 3, 8, 9. To the Colossians : " It pleased the Father,
that in him [the Son] should all fulness dwell ; and (having made peace
through the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all things unto him-
self. And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your
muid by wicked works, hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh
through death, to present you holy and unblamable in his sight ; if ye
continue grounded and settled in the faith," Col. i, 19, 23. " As ye
have therefore i-eceived Christ .Fesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving," Col. ii, 6, 7. To the
Thessalonians : " Let vis, who arc of the day, be sober, putting on the
134 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
breastplate of faith. For God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but
to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him," 1 Thess.
V, 8, 10. " We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
because that your faith groweth exceedingly. Now the Lord shall come
to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.
Wherefore we pray that our God would fulfil in you the work of faith
with power ; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified
in you, and you in luin," 2 Thess. i, 3, 12. To Timothy : "This is a
faithfid saying, and worthy of all arccptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this
cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all loner suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe
on him to life everlasting," 1 Tim. i, 15, 16. " For God our Saviour will
have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all," 1 Tim. ii, 3, 6.
" Great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory," 1 Tim. iii, 16. " God
hath saved us, [that is to say, hath put us in possession of the same
present salvation, which the sinful woman experienced, who, while she
prostrated herself at the feet of Jesus, in faith and prayer, received from
him these consolatory sentences, " Thy sins are forgiven thee ; tViy faith
hath saved thee ; go in peace," Luke vii, 48, TiO.] God hath saved us,
not according to our works, but according to his own grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus — who hath abolished death, and hath brought
lite and immortality to light through the Gospel," 2 Tim. i, 8, 10. To
Titus : " Paid, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to Titus, mine own son after
the common faith : grace, mercy, and jieace from God the Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour," Tit. i, 1,4, " who gave himself for
us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii, 14. " We ourselves
were sometimes disobedient: but after that the kindness and love of God
our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us — that being jus-
tified by his grace, we should be made heirs of eternal life," Tit. iii, 3,
7. To Philemon, he writes : " Grace be to you, and peace from God
our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God, hearing of
thy faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus (Christ. The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit," Philem. Thus, a persecuted
Saviour became the Alpha and the Omega of this great apostle.
In his Epistle to the Hebrews he uses the same language. It begins
and concludes with Him who is " the beginning and the end" of all things.
Rev. xxii, 13. "God," saith he, "hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his Son, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the
brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things l)y the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of tlie Majesty on high," Heb.
i, 1,2, 3. " It became Him, for whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glorj^ to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffer-
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 135
ings. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also hiniseli" took part of the same ; that through death he might
destroy him tliat had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver
them who, through fear of death, were all their hfetime subject to bond-
age," Heb. ii, 10-15. " Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the
author of eternal salvation," Heb. v, 8, 9. " This man, because he con-
tinueth ever, hath an unchangeable pi'iesthood. Wherefore he is able to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them," Heb. vii, 24, 25. " Having, therefore, a
High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near in full assurance of
faith," Heb. x, 21, 22. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen : for by it the elders obtained a good
report, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
waxed vahant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens," Heb. xi,
1, 2, 33, 34. " Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race that is set before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith," Heb. xii, 1, 2.
" Now the God of peace — make you perfect in ever>' good work to do
his Avill, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through
Jesus Christ ; to whom be glory for ever and ever," Heb. xiii, 20, 21.
The same Saviour whom St. Paul was so anxious to declare in his
epistles, he as constantly preached in his sermons. He was no sooner
converted, but " straightway," says St. Luke, " he preached Christ in the
synagogues, that he is the Son of God," Acts ix, 20. Take an abridg-
ment of the first of his sermons which is left upon record, and which was
preached at Antioch, in Pisidia. After asserting the fulfilment of that
glorious promise which had been anciently given respecting the birth of
our omnipotent Saviour, he cries out, " Men and brethren, children of the
stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the
word of this salvation sent." For the inhabitants and rulers of Jerusalem,
" because they knew him not," nor understood the sense of those pro-
phecies which are read " every Sabbath day," have given them their sad
completion, by condemning the Lord of life and glory. " Though they
found no cause of deatli in liim, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they laid
him in a sepulchre." But God, after three days, raised him triumphantly
from the grave. " And he was seen many days" of his wondering disci-
ples, whom he continued to visit and instruct, even after his resurrection,
that they might become " his witnesses to the people." And now, " we
declare unto you, that God hath fulfilled the promise which was made
unto the fathers, in that he hath raised up Jesus from the dead. Be it
known imto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that believe
are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you, which is
spoken of in the prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish :
for 1 work a work in your days, a work which you will in no wise believe,
though a man declare il unto you," Acts xiii. When the cross of Christ
130 THE POKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
and its happy eflects are llius niithfiilly declared, the word of Hod is never
wholly preached in vain. Some, it is true, will always reject and count
themselves unworthy of everlasting life, Acts xiii, 46. But others will
rejoice in the truth, glorifying the word of the Lord ; and all those who,
by a true poverty of spirit, are disposed for eternal lite, shall efFectually
believe, verse 48.
Some time afterward, St. Paul delivered a sermon in the prison at
Philippi, tlie capital of Macedonia. St. Luke, his historian, has not
favoured us with this discourse, but he has transmitted to us the subject
matter of it. Despairing sinner, said the apostle to the affrighted jailer,
who lay trembling at his feet, " believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Afler hearing thus much, the
astonished man collected his family together, and the apostle continued
his discourse, declaring unto them all " the word of the Lord." Such are
the small remains we are able to collect of this excellent sermon. But
though we are unacquainted with its several parts, we know that it was
attended with the happiest effects : for, before the return of day, this con-
verted jailer, snatched from the very brink of destruction, was seen, with
all his believing family, rejoicing in God, Acts xvi.
When the same apostle was afterward appointed to speak before tlic
senate at Athens, he could not, with propriety, set before those unhuinbled
philosophers "tlie mystery of the Gospel," Eph. vi, 19. But after bear-
ing a public testimony against their superstition and idolatry, he pressed
upon them the necessity of an unfeigned repentance ; announcing Christ
as an omniscient Judge, that he might afterward proclaim him as the
compassionate Saviour of men. Acts xvii. To the same purpose was
that other sermon of his, which was delivered before the tribunal of Felix,
when the Roman governor was seen to tremble under the power of an
apostle's preaching, Acts xxiv, 25. Tlie little effect produced by these
two last mentioned discourses may be brought as a proof, that the most
momentous truths are hidden " from the wise and pnident," while they
are " revealed unto babes," Matt, xi, 25.
It was by proclaiming the same mighty Saviour, that St. Stephen
obtained for himself the first crown of martyrdom among the Christians.
Behold an abridgment of his celebrated apology : " Men, brethren, and
fathers," you accuse me of having spoken blasphemously against Moses.
But, on the contrary, I publicly acknowledge him as the deliverer of our
fathers, and gladly embrace this opportunity of reasoning vs ith you from
the character of that favoured prophet. " He once supposed," that, by
certain of his actions, " his brethren would have understood how that
God, by his hand, would deliver tlicin." But so far were they from
understanding any such matter, that one of them thrust him away, crying
out in an insulting manner, " Who made thee a ruler and a judge over
us ?" This Moses, however, whom they thus refused, was chosen of
(Tod to be their future prince and deliverer. " This is that Moses who
said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you of your brethren, like unto me." A prophet whom you will
at first reject, as you rejected me ; but who, nevertheless, when you shall
receive him, will deliver you out of spiritual Egypt, as I once delivered
you from the land of bondage, when you gave credence to my word.
This promised Saviour has aheady made his appearance among us, whom
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 137
ye have rejected to your own condemnation. As our fathers rejected Moses
in the wilderness, thrusting him from them, and in their hearts turning
back again into Eg}-pt, so you have rejected your greater DeUverer. " Ye
uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost ;
as your fathers did, so do ye. Wliich of the prophets have not your
fathers persecuted ? And they have slain them which showed before of
the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers
and murderers ; ye who have received the law by the disposition of angels,
and have not kept it," Acts vii.
That the powerftil preaching of the Gospel is sometimes made " the
savour of death unto deatli," 2 Cor. ii. 16, is sufficiently clear from the
following account. After Stephen had finished this discourse, the hearts
of his hearers were transported with rage, insomuch that " they gnashed
upon him with their teeth." Meanwhile the holy martyr continued to
proclaim Christ ; and, far from being intimidated by their threatenings,
looking steadfastly up to heaven in a kmd of ecstasy, produced by the
strength of his faith, the vigour of his hope, and the ardour of his love,
he cried out, " I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing
on the right hand of God." And while the multitude ran upon him with
stones, after committing his own soul to the care of his exalted Saviour,
he cried, with a loud voice, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
Behold an apology, which was looked upon by the preachers of that day
as replete with ignorance ajid fanaticism, though delivered by an evan-
gehst who was filled with faith and power, and with the Holy Ghost !
The same doctruie was preached by the evangehsts, who were dis.
persed abroad by the persecution excited agamst Stephen, and was
followed by the benediction of the Lord. For we find that some of them,
entering mto the city of Antioch, spake unto the Grecians there, preach-
ing the Lord Jesus ; and the hand of the Lord was with them, so that " a
great number beheved and turned imto the Lord," Acts xi, 19, 20, 21.
We shall go on to select a few proofs, that all the apostles were of
one heart m this matter, preaching Jesus Christ as the Saviour of all
those who believe in him.
Though St. James professedly wrote his epistle against the error of
those who had destroyed the law of charity, by an imaginary faith in
Christ, yet so far is he from despising the substantial faith of believers,
that, as " the servants of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ," he exhorts
false brethren to seek after and manifest it by its proper fruits. He even
employs a species of irony to point out the necessity of this powerful
grace : " Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my
faith by my works," James ii, 18. He intimates that our faith must be
tried by "divers temptations," in order to our becoming "perfect and
entire" before God. ^V hence we learn that, according to his judgment,
the perfection of Christians absolutely depends upon the periection of
their faith, James i, 2-4. On this account he exhorts us to ask wisdom
in faith. And lastly, he declares, that the prayer of faith shall be pow-
erful enough to procure health for the sick, and remission for the sinful,
James v, 1.5.
There needs no more than an attentive perusal of this epistle, to con-
vince us that St. James aimounces a faith which saves the Christian, by
producmg in him hope, charity, and every good work.
138 TUE PORTRAIT OF ST. TAVt.
Tlie same doctrine was inculcated by St. Peter, both in his sermons
and epistles. Three thousand souls were converted, while he cried out,
upon the day of pentecost, " Ye men of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of CJod among } ou, by miracles, and wonders, and signs ; liim,
being delivered by the determinate counsel of God, ye have taken, and
by wicked hands have crucified and slam. Whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he, who
is the resurrection and the life, John xi, 25, should be holden of it. This
Jesus, therefore, beir.g by the right hand of God exalted, hath shed forth
this which ye now see and hear. Therefore, let all the house of Israel
assuredly know, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now, when the convicted multitude
inquired, in their distress, " Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" Peter
answered and said, " Repent and be baptized, every one of you, [that is
to say, first cordially believe, and then by baptism make a public con-
fession of that faith,] in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," Acts ii.
His second discourse was to the same effect. " The God of our fathers
hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom ye dehvered up and denied in the
presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye
desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Pi'ince of life,
whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof we are witnesses. And
faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know ; yea,
the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the
presence of you all. And now, brethren, repent ye, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord," Acts iii, 13-19.
His apology before the council was founded upon the same Divine
truths. Be it luiowTi unto you all, and to all the peo]>le of Israel, that
by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye cnicified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone tliat was set at nought of you builders, which is become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other : for
there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we
must be saved," Acts iv, 10, 12. Thus St. Peter, " filled with the Holy
Ghost, spake the woi"d of God with boldness, and with great power gave
witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus," iv, 31, 33. Even after
being commanded to speak no more in the name of Jesus, he departed
from the council, rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer shame
for his Master's sake, " and daily in the temple and in every house, he
ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ," Acts v, 40, 42.
The foui'th sermon of this apostle perfectly corresponds with the fore-
going. This discourse was delivered in the house of Cornelius, the
centurion, to whom an angel had before revealed that Peter should
declare unto him tilings whereby both himself and his house should be
saved. Of all the sermons which have ever been preached, this was,
perhaps, the most efl^ecfiial ; since it is observed, that " the Holy (ihost
fell on all them which heard the word." Take an abridgment of this
powerful discourse. God hath proclaimed peace "to the children of
Israel by Jesus Christ, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. But
he," being raised again by the power of God, "commanded us to preach
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 139
unto the people, and to testify that it is he whicli was ordained of God
to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets wit-
ness, that whosoever beheveth in him shall receive remission of sins,"
X, 36, 43.
And, as in liis sermons, so also in his epistles, St. Peter was ever
anxious to declare salvation through faith in the name of Jesus
Christ.
" Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect of God. Blessed be
God, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resuiTection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God througli faith unto
salvation," 1 Pet. i, 1-5. " It is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I
lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious : and he that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, whicli be disobe-
dient, he is made a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence," ii, 6-8.
The second Epistle of St. Peter was written for the confirmation of
the weak and the establisliment of the strong. In the first verse, Christ
is represented as the author and finisher of our faith : in the last, the
glory of our salvation is expressly ascribed to the same Divine Person.
And these two verses may be given as an abridgment of the whole
epistle.
This powerful faith, and tliis adorable Saviour, were as constantly
proclaimed by the Apostle John. Though St. Luke has not transmitted
to us any extracts from his discourses, yet his doctrine is sufficiently
manifested in his epistles.
" If any man sin," saith this favoured apostle, " we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is the propitiation
for our sins," 1 John ii, 1, 2. " He was manifested to take away our sins.
And tliis is the commandment of God, tliat we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ," iii, 5, •2.'3. " Whosoever believeth, is
born of God — whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world : and
this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith," v, 1, 4.
" These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye
may" yet more steadfastly believe, ver. 13.
" Many deceivers," continues the same apostle in his second epistle,
" have entered uito the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Whosoever abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God : he that abideth in the doc-
trine of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son," 2 John 7, 9. Here
St, John, foreseeing the melancholy revolution that would one day be
effected in the Church by these antichristian teachers, notwithstanding
his natural gentleness, cries against them with a holy indignation : " If
there come any unto vou, and bring not this doctrine, receive them not
into your hoase, neither bid them God speed. For he that biddeth him
God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds," 10, 11.
In his third epistle he expresses the utmost joy over Gains, on account
of his steady adherence to the truth ; assuring him, that he had no
greater joy than to hear that his children continued to walk in the truths
of the Gospel. He conmiends his charity toward the people of God,
and exhorts him to continue a fellow helper to the truth, by affording a
140 TIIR PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
hospitable reception to those who, with a view of spreading that truth,
were journeying from place to place.
St. Jude, in his short epistle, writes thus : " Beloved, when I gave all
diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which
was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in
unawares, denymg the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Jude .3, 4. " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep youi-selves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,"
verses 20, 21.
The concluding hook of the New Testament abounds with striking
testimonies to the foregoing truths, and was added for the consolation
of the Church in every age. It opens with a sublime eulogy pronounced
upon that incomprehensible Sa\'iour, who is " the Alpha and the Omega,
the faithful Witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the
kings of the earth, who hath loved and washed us from our sins in his
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests imto God and his Father,
for ever and ever," Rev. i, 5, 6.
The faithful, who groan in secret to behold their Master rejected by
Deists, and neglected by the greater part of Christians, attend with holy
transport to the representations here given by St. John. Here they per-
ceive that condescending Saviour, who was dishonoured upon earth,
acknowledged and adored by the hosts of heaven. They see the pros-
trate elders, and behold the innumerable multitude of the redeemed
assembled before the throne. Tliey hear that new song of adoration,
in which angels and the spirits of just men made perfect unanimously
ciy out, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing,"
Rev. V, 12. These are scenes which the believer is assisted to realize
by means of a lively faith, and in which he already bears an humble
part, ascribing, with his more exalted brethren, " Blessing, and honour,
and glory, and power, unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb, for ever and ever," ver. 13.
Tliis mysterious book concludes with that short prayer of St. John,
which shall one day be offered up with the energy of the Holy Spirit,
by ten thousand times ten thousand of the faithful, " Come, Lord Jesus,"
fully to accompUsh thy gracious promises, xxii, 20.
If it be here inquired, " Do not all ministers maintain this Scriptural
faith ?" I answer. It is a rare thing with the generality of ministers to
treat on a point of so vast importance : and even when they are heard
to speak of this mighty grace, they represent it as something manifestly
different from that living faith by which we are regenerated. If ever
they discourse with their catechumens on this subject, they speak as men
who attempt to teach what they have yet to learn, lliey frequently
repeat the word faith, but are unable to open its spiritual signification.
They take it for gi*anted that all their neighboui's are possessed of this
grace, except those who openly rejected the word of God ; and thus they
become perfectly satisfied with that species of faith against which St.
Paul and St. James were authorized to denounce the anathemas of the
Gospel. On this account, one of the last texts a worldly pastor would
THE POHTRAIT OF ST. FAUL. 141
make choice ol, is that solemn exhoilation of tiie apostle, " Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith : prove your own selves : know
ye not your owti selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be
reprobates ?" 2 Cor. xiii, 5. The faith with which he contents himself,
and which he pubhshes to others, may be equally possessed by those who
are conformable to this present evil world, ajid those who " have cruci-
tied the flesh with the affections and lusts," Gal. v, 24. It belongs to
self-exalting Pharisees, who boast of their o>vn righteousness, as well
as to those humble believers who count themselves unworthy of the
benefits they have received.
Farther : so far is the ill- instructed minister from preaching the true
faith, that he is always prepared to plead against it. In confirmation
of this melancholy truth, take the following relation : —
A beUever, wliose circumstances frequently engaged hirn in conversa-
tion with a worldly man of his neighbourhood, once took occasion to
offer him such advice as brotherly charity suggested. After the cus-
tomary civilities, Sir, said he, we have Uved as neighbours long enough
to know one another ; and, I presume, the intimacy of our acquaintance
authorizes us to speak to each other without any reserve. It has given
me real satisfaction to observe your constant attendance at our church,
and your strict attention to her most solemn services. Nevertheless,
permit me to express my fears that you are not seeking the kingdom of
God with that earnestness and solicitude without which it can never be
obtained. Though you are constant at cliurch, yet you are as constant
at tables of festivity ; and an approaching entertainment appears to
afford you greater pleasure than an approaching sacrament. I regularly
observe the gazette upon your table, w ith a variety of new and ingenious
pubhcations ; but I have never found you perusing the sacred pages of a
more important volume. I have heard you speak in an agreeable man-
ner upon twenty different things ; but cannot recollect that your conver-
sation ever turned upon what our Lord has described as " the one thing
needful," Luke x, 42. In short, sir, I apprehend, from your conduct,
that you are altogether unacquauited with evangelical faith ; and if so,
3'our hope is as fallacious as j^our devotion is Pharisaical.
Neighbour. I am obhged, sir, by the interest you appear to take in
my salvation ; but allow me to say, with Solomon, " There is a time for
all things."
Believer. Yes, sir ; for all that is good. But, if you really believe
there is a time for all things, is it not amazing, that after you have found
four seasons in every day convenient for eating and drinking in your
family, vou should find no proper opj)ortunity, through the whole course
of a week, to pour out your prayers with that family before God ?
N. It is true, I do not pique myself upon my piety : and I will con-
fess to you, that I frequent the church and the holy communion, rather
out of decency than choice. But, notwithstandmg this, my faith is as
orthodox as that of my neighbours. We all beheve in God as our
Creator, and in Christ as our Redeemer, except some few persons, who
glory in trampling all revelation under foot. For my own part, I have
never erred from the faith since I first became acquainted with the
apostles' creed : and that was so early in life, that 1 cannot now recol-
lect who first instnicted me in it.
142 THK PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
B. It seems, then, neighbour, that you imbibed your faith as you
drew in your nurse's milk : and you have learned to beheve in Christ,
rather tiian in Mohammed, because you happened to be taught the
Enf,flish rather than the Turkish language.
iV, Tiiat may be. Ho\vever, if 1 had been a Mohammed, I trust I
might also have been an honest man. I give to every one his due.
This is the grand principle upon which I have always acted, and from
this 1 leave eveiy rational man to form a judgment of my faith.
B. Ah, sir ! if such are the principles by which your conduct is regu-
lated, then make a full surrender of your heart to God, and consecrate
to his service those powers of body and soul which you have received
from his bounty, and to which he has so just a title. But, alas! without
piety, your strict justice is like the fidelity of a subject, who fulfds his
engagements with a few particular persons, while he withholds the
homage due to his rightful sovereign. If such a subject can be termed
faithful, then may you, with propriety, be accounted just, while you offer
not to God that ti'ibute of" love, gratitude, adoration, and obedience, which
is your reasonable service. You made a confession but now, that you
piqued not yourself upon your piety : it would not have astonished me
more had you said, that you piqued not yourself upon paying your debts,
and acting with common honesty ui the world. Alas, sir, your boasted
principles do but confirm the fears to which your conduct had given rise.
I entreat you, in the most solemn manner, " to examine yourself, whe-
ther you be in the faith."
N'. What do you call faith ?
B. The Scriptures teach us, that we must believe with the heart, and
that " faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of
things not seen," Heb. xi, 1. He, therefore, who tiiily beUeves in the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, carries within him a lively demon-
stration of the Almighty's presence, which penetrates him with sentiments
of fear, respect, and love, for a Being so powerful, just, and good : he pos-
sesses an internal evidence of the atiection of that Redeemer upon whom
alone he grounds his hope of salvation, saluting him, with Nathanael, as
"the Son of God, the King of Israel," John i, 49 : and he discovers in his
own heart the most indisputable testimonies of the sanctifying and con-
soling operations of the Holy Spirit. Now, from this threefold demon-
stration he is enabled to say, with suitable sentiments of gratitude and
devotion, " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God," 1 John iii, 1. " He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. i, 6, 7 ; and " the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God," Rom.
viii, 16. Tell me, then, since you boast of having received the Christian
faith, have you ever experienced those salutary effects of fiiith, wliich I
have now described?
iV. If that demonstration, and that lively representation of which you
speak, are essential to Christian faith, I must confess that to such a faith
I am a perfect stranger. But the writings of St. Paul, whose definition
of faith you have just cited, are generally looked upon as remarkably
dark and mysterious ; I wish you had rather quoted St. John.
B. I doubt, sir, whether you will gain any thing by such an appeal-
THE I'ORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 143
" Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ," sailh St. John, " is
born of God. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that
Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John v, 1-5. You perceive, sir, that, ac-
cording to this apostle, faith is a principle of grace and power suffi-
ciently forcible and victorious to regenerate and make us partakers of
the Divine nature, enabling us to triumph equally over the most seducing,
as well as the most afflicting occurrences in the world. Have you ob-
tained, or have you even sought the faith of which such excellent things
are spoken.
N. You embarrass me. I never heard the least intimation of such a
faith in this country.
B. Indeed, sir, you are in an error, since this very faith is plainly set
forth in the sixteenth chapter of the Helvetic Confession. " The Chris-
tian faith," say the pious ministers who composed that work, " is not a
mere human opinion or persuasion, but a state of full assurance : it not
only gives a constant and clear assent to, but also comprehends and
embraces the truths of God, as proposed to us in the apostles' creed.
The soul, by this act, unites itself to God, as to its only, eternal, and
sovereign good, and to Jesus Christ as the centre of all the promises."
Have you, then, this Divine persuasion, this full assurance of the truths
of our holy religion? And have you experienced this act, by which the
soul is united to God, through Christ, as to its sovereign good ?
N. I ha\e, undoubtedly, a persuasion that the word of God is true.
But how may I absolutely determine, whether or no I am a possessor
of the faith of which you speak ?
B. If you are possessed of faith, you have some experimental know-
ledge of those liappy effects of that grace, which are thus enumerated
in the same confession : " True faith restores peace to the conscience.
It procures a free access to God, enabUng us both to approach him with
confidence, and to obtain from him the things which we need. It
retains us in the path of obedience, enduing us with power to fulfil our
several duties both to God and our neighbour. It maintains our patience
in adversity, and disposes us, at all times, to a sincere confession of our
confidence. To sum up all in a single worrl, it produces every good
work." "Let it be observed," says the same confession, "that we do
not here speak of a pretended faith, which is vain, ineffectual, and dead,
but of a livmg, effectual, and vivifying faith. This is a doctrine which
St. James camiot be understood to combat, seeing he si)eaks of a vain
and presumptuous confidence, of which some were known to boast,
while they had not Christ hving in them by means of faitli."
N. " Christ living in them by means of faith !" I pray, sir, what is to
be understood by this expression? I do not comprehend the thing. But,
if I recollect, I shall ha\'e an o])portunity, in a few hours, of mentioning
the matter to our pastor, whom I expect here this evening to make up a
party at cards. The true beUever, afler thanking his worldly neighbour
for the patience with which he had hstened to his conversation, took his
leave and withdrew, apprehending every evil consequence from the de-
cision of a pastor who was known to indulge a taste for play and vain
amusement. Ilis fears were too well founded. The minister, true to
his engagement, arrived at the appointed hour, and the gentleman tlnis
144 THE POK'l'KAlT OK ST. PAUL.
eagerly addressed him : " 1 have been receiving some singular advice
from a person of a very unaccountable turn, who appears to agree either
with the Mystics or the Pietists. He spoke much of faith, asserting that
all true Christians are really regenerate, and that they have Christ living
in them by faith. What think you, sir, of such assertions as these ?"
" I will tell you freely," replied the minister, " that these abstruse points
of doctrine aj-e among those profound mysteries, which neither you nor
I are appointed to fathom. It is usual with enthusiasts to speak in this
manner : but such mystic jargon is now out of season. There have
been ages in which divines were accustomed to speculate concerning
this faith, and publicly to insist upon it in their sermons. But, in an age
like this, enlightened by sound philosophy and learned discoveries, we
no longer admit what we cannot comprehend. I advise you, as a friend,
to leave these idle subtilties close shut up in the unintelligible volumes
of our ancient theologists. The only material thing is to conduct our-
selves as honest men. If we receive revelation in a general sense, and
have good works to produce, there can be no doubt but that our faith is
of a proper kind, and highly acceptable before God." To this short
discourse the card table succeeded, which served to strengthen the bands
of intimacy between our careless clergyman and his deluded neighbour :
so perfectly alike were their faith and their manners.
The circumstances alluded to in the above relation are not imaginary ;
and there is every reason to fear, that circumstances of the same nature
are no less common in other Christian countries, than in that which
gave birth to the writer of these pages.
Thus the worldh' minister, instead of preaching this important doc-
trine in its purity, seeks to destroy even the curiosity which would
engage an irreligious man to inquire into the necessity, the nature, the
origin, and the effects of evangelical faith. And while the generality
of those who are required to publish this victorious grace are seen to
reject it with contempt, no wonder that the true minister esteems himself
obliged to contend for it, with increasing earnestness, both in public and
private, .lude 3.
To close this section. When the Christian minister proclaims salva-
tion by faith, he adheres, not only to the Holy Scriptures, but also to
those public confessions of faith, which are in common use among the
Churches of Christ. " We believe," say the Churches of France, "that
every thing necessary to our salvation was revealed and offered to us
in Christ, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption," Art. xiii. " We believe that we are made partakers
of righteousness by faith alone ; since it is said, that he [Christ] suffered
in order to procure salvation for us, and that whosoever believeth in him
shall not perish," Art. xx. " We believe that, by this faith, we are
regenerated to newness of life, being by nature in bondage to sin. So
that faith, instead of cooling in us the desire of living righteously and
godly, naturally tends to excite such desire, and necessarily produces
every good work," Art. xxii.
Such also is the doctrine of the Helvetic Confession : " We beheve,
with St. Paul, that sinful man is justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ,
and not by the law. Faith receives Jesus, who is our righteousness ;
and on this account justification is attributed to taith. That by means
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 145
of faith we receive Jesus Christ, he liimself has taught us in the Gospel,
where he significantly uses the terms applied to eating for believhig :
for, as by eating we receive bodily nourishment, so by beUeving we are
made partakers of Christ," chap. xv. " Man is not regenerated by faith,
that lie should continue in a state of indolence, but rather that he should
api»ly himself, without ceasing, to the performance of those things which
are useful and good : since the Lord hath said, ' Eveiy good tree bringeth
forth good fruit,' Matt, vii, 19 : 'he that abidcth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit,' John xv, G."
The Church of England expresses herself in the following terms upon
salvation by faith, and the good works produced by that faith : — " We
are accoimted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our ow n works and deservings.
Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doc-
trine, and very full of comfort," Art. xi. " Good works do spring out
necessarily of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively
faith may be as evidently known, as a tree discerned by the fruit,"
Art. xii.
The true minister goes on to announce a lively hope.
" Godliness with contentment is great gain," 1 Tim. vi, 6. And the
pastor, who is possessed of so invaluable a blessing, cannot be backward
in soliciting all, within the circle of his acquaintance, to share it with
him. Happy in the enjoyment of that precious secret, which enables
him to rejoice without ceasing, he readily communicates it to the afflicted,
by leading them to that lively hope which consoles and sustams the heart
of every believer.
In a word, where the bitterness of evil is continually increasing ;
where we discover the scourges of a God, who will not fail to chastise
his rebellious creatures ; where disappointment and death successively
deprive us of our dearest comforts, and where the forerumiers of death
are continually weakening all our imperfect enjoyments ; in such a
world, it is evident, that the most exalted pleasure we are capable of,
must sprmg from a well-grounded hope of those immortal joys which
are reserved for the righteous. The language of mortality is too feeble
to describe either the power or the sweetness of such a hope. Here
we can only cry out with the psalmist, " O taste, and see how gracious
the Lord is," Psalm xxxiv, 8, in providing so potent a cordial for those
who are travelling through a vale of tears.
The lively hope which gives birth to a believer's felicity, is one of the
most exliilarating fruits of his faith, and is inseparably connected with it,
since " true faith is the substance of things hoped for." Li proportion
as the truths and promises, upon which faith is founded, are evidenced
and apprehended, such will l)e the hope with which that faith is accom-
panied. If Moses then, by the faith which he professed, was ennbled to
renounce the prospect of an earthly crown, with the hope of obtaining
a more glorious inheritance ; if he esteemed " the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, having respect unto the
recompense of reward," Ileb. xi, 26 ; what may not be expected from
Vol. in. 10
146 THE PORTKAIT or ST. PAUL.
a hope founded upon those precious promises, which have been sealed
with the blood of that condescending Saviour, who " brought life and
immortahty to hght through the Gospel?" 2 Tim. i, 10. "The law,"
saith the apostle, " made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto God," Heb. vii, 19. " See-
ing then that we have such hope," continues the same apostle, " we
all, with open face, beholduig as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory," 2 Cor. iii, 12, 18.
We every day observe the men of the world exulting in the hope of
some temporal advantage. The prospect of an honom'able title, an aug-
mentation of fortune, an advantageous marriage, or even a poor party
of pleasure, is sufficient to allure, to animate, to enrapture them. They
will even acknowledge, that the flattering hope of future pleasure is
sweeter than enjoyment itself. Who then shall attempt to declare those
transports which flow from the lively hope of a triumphing Christian?
A hope which is founded upon the Rock of ages, and which has, for its
multifarious object, riches, honours, and pleasures, as much superior to
those of worldly men, as the soul is superior to the body, heaven to earth,
and eternity to the present fleeting moment.
The tine minister publicly amiounces this hope to the world, persuaded
that, if mankind were once happy enough to possess it, they would ex-
change a load of misery for a prospect of blessedness. But since he
loiows that this hope can never be admitted mto hearts replete with sin,
his first concern is to overthrow the vain confidence of the impenitent,
to undermine the presumption of the Pharisaical, and to point out the
true distinction between a siiuier's groundless expectation, and the well-
founded hope of a believer in Christ.
In every place there are many to be found, who, without " evangeli-
cal faith or hope," are filled with a presumption as blind as that of the
Pharisees, and as fatal as that of heathens hardened in their sin. To
every such person, the true minister uniformly declares that he is " with-
out Christ, without hope, and without God in the world," Eph. ii, 12.
These very men, it is probable, may offer to the Deity a formal wor-
ship, and indulge high expectations from the mercy of a Divine Media-
tor, though they are totally destitute of an unfeigned " repentance toward
God, and a true faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," Acts xx, 21.
Thus far the unconverted may proceed in a seemingly religious course.
But the regenerate alone can truly say, " The grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us, that denying ungod-
liness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world : looldng for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ," Tit. ii, 11-13.
The hope of unrighteous men is founded upon pride, false notions of
the Deity, ignorance of his law, and upon those prejudices, which the
irreligious commmiicate one to another. On the contrary, the hope of
believers has, for its basis, the word of Him " who cannot lie," Tit. i, 2.
" Whatsoever things were written aforetime," saith the apostle, " were
written for our learning, that we [the children of God] through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope," Rom. xv, 4. It i'.
founded not only upon the word, but equally upon the oath of God.
" Men verily swear by the greater ; and an oath for confirmation is to
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 147
them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to
show unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, con-
firmed it by an oath : that by two inunutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, [namely, his word and his oath,] we might have
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us : which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast," Heb. vi, 16-19.
When the faithful minister has rooted up every false hope, he then
annoimces Jesus Christ, who hath brouglil in a better hope than that of
heathens or Jews. Observe here the reason why those pastors who
preach not Christ are incapable of doing any thing toward the further-
ance of that living faith, of which Christ is the grand object, and that
lively hope, of which he is the inexhaustible source. " Jesus Christ,"
saith St. Paul, " is our hope," 1 Tim. i, 1 : and we declare unto you
" the mystery, which hath been hid from ages," and is still hidden from
worldly men, " which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Thus the
everlasting Son of the Father is made to his tiiie followers the begituiing
and the consummation of hope, as well as " the author and finisher ol"
faith," Heb. xii, 2.
By the mercy of God, and through the redemption that is in Jesus
Christ, the believer has already received the promise of a free pardon for
past offences ; otherwise he deserves not to be termed a believer : at
least, he is destitute of evangelical faith. Now, when the believer sin-
cerely receives the glad tidings of redeeming grace, he then assuredly
receives Jesus Christ, m whom " all the promises are yea and Amen,"
2 Cor. i, 20 ; and lie would conduct himself in a manner contrary to
that which both reason and Scripture prescribe, if he should refuse to
rejoice in God his Sa\'iour. By such a mode of acting, ho would prove
his want of gratitude for that which Christ hath already done, and of
hope for that which he hath promised still to perfomi. But when he
gives himself up to a joy, as reasonable as it is refreshing, he then
answers the gracious designs of his benevolent Lord. Continually taken
up with more satisfactory enjoy^nents, he despises the seducing i)leasures
of sin. He carries in his own bosom a source of colesiial pleasure,
while the man of the world disquiets his heart in the vain pursuit of
earthly joys. The difference between the enjoyments of these two cha-
racters is as great as between the rational pleasures of those who gather
their wheat into the barn, and the puerile mirth of children, who arc
busied in collecting the scattered straws and thorns ; the former are
securing an inestimable treasure, while the latter have nothing more in
view, than to dance round a short-lived blaze, the truest emblem of a
sinner's satisfaction.
In the Holy Scriptures very excellent things are spoken of the hope
which produces this sacred joy. (1.) It is a Divine hope, since it has
for its object the enjoyment of God, and because it draws supplies of
strength from that Holy Spirit which discovers to believers the greatness
and stability of Gospel promises. Thus St. Paul teacheth us that "the
Father of glory givdh us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation : enlighten-
E ing the eyes of our understanding, that we may know what is the hope
of our calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance among
the saints," Eph. i, 17, 16.
148 THE I'OKTEAIT OF ST. PAUL.
2. It gives honour to the faithfulness and power of God. Abraham,
saith St. Paul, against all human probability, believing " in hope, stag-
gered not at the promise ; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God ;
being fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able also to
perform," Rom. iv, 18-21. " Therefore, being justified," like Abraham,
" by faith, we rejoice," continues the apostle, with a confidence like his,
" in hope of the glory of God. And this hope maketh not ashamed,"
Rom. v, 1-5. How unlike the fallacious hope of worldly men, who ai'e
frequently put to shame by their blasted expectations !
3. This hope is said to fill us with a holy joy. " Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," saith St. Peter, " who hath begot-
ten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead. Wherein ye greatly rejoice," 1 Pet. i, 3, 6. And on this
account it was, that the Apostle Paul prayed with so much ardour for
an increase of hope among believers. " Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost," Rom. xv, 13.
4. It actually saves us, as St. Paul himself declares in the following
words : " I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed m us. And,"
supported by this sweet persuasion, " we wait for the adoption, to wit,
the redemption of our body. For," in this respect, "we are saved by
hope," Rom. viii, 18, 24.
5. It is equally sweet and solid ; since it rests upon the right which
the children of God may claun to the inheritance of their heavenly
Father ; a sacred right, which is confimied to them with the utmost
solemnity in the New Testament. Now every man who receives, with
sincerity, the Lord of life and glory, receives with him a title to everlast-
ing possessions, and ranks, from that moment, among "the sons of God,"
John i, 12. So that to such the following passages may, with propriety,
be applied : " He hath made us accepted in the Beloved — in whom ye
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your
salvation : in whom also, after that ye behoved, ye were sealed w ith that
Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession," Eph. i, 6, 12, 14.
6. It purifies us. "Now are we," saith St. John, " the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know, that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see hun as he is. And
every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is
pure. Whosoever is born of God [or regenerated by a true faith and a
lively hope] doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him ; and
he cannot sin, because he is born of God," 1 John iii, 2, 3, 9. The truth
of this assertion is clear to the eye of reason. We fall into sin, because
we suffer ourselves to be seduced by the allurements of some transitoiy
good, which presents itself either to our senses or imagination. But
when we arc once persuaded that infinite enjoyments await us, we can
then look with contempt upon those deceitful appearances ; and after our
hearts are animated with a confident hope of possessing those invisible
realities, the charm of sin is broken. In such a state, we break through
temptations with as much resolution as a prince who is going to take
possession of a kingdom, renounces the little amusements that occupied
THR PORTRAIT OF ST. PAtTl. 149
his thoughts before they were engrossed by a concern of so vast import-
ance. " Who is he that overcometh the world," but the man who be-
lieves with that faith which affords him a hvely representation of things
hoped for ? Compare 1 John v, 5, with Heb. xi, 1.
7. This lively hope produces charity in the soul. " We give thanks
to God," saith the apostle, " praying always for you, since we heard
of the love which ye have to all the saints; for the hopk which is laid
up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the
truth of the Gospel," Col. i, 3-5. Nay, of so prevaiUng an influence
is this solid hope, that the apostle intimates, in the same chapter, that
believers shall be presented before God, holy and unblamable, provided
they be not " moved away from the hope of the Gospel," Verses 22, 23.
" For," continues he, " we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold
the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end," Heb. iii, 14.
" And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope unto the end : that ye be not slothful, but fol-
lowers of them who through faith and patience inlierit the promises,"
Heb. vi, 11, 12.
8. This hope is full of consolation. "We who remain," saith the
apostle, " shall be caught up to meet the Lord m the air, and so shall we
ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these
words," 1 Thess. v, 17, 18. "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and
God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts," 2 Thess.
ii, 16, 17. When we obsen'e among us some who are disquieted and
cast down, who want courage to support affliction without impatience,
and to fill up their duties with cheerfulness, we then behold persons who
never enjoyed, or who have unhappily lost, the lively hope of true Chris-
tians. If all ministers of the Gospel had experienced the sweetness and
power of this hope, with what pleasure would they publish it to the
afflicted ! And with what perseverance would they join to their dis-
courses the most ardent prayers, that all their hearers might come to the
enjoyment of so invaluable a blessing !
When the true minister leads his flock to this lively and joyful hope,
he treads in the footsteps of his Divine Master. Christ, it is true, began
his ministry by preaching repentance, Matt, iv, 17. But immediately
after we find him placing before the believer's eye beatitudes and pro-
mises of the most consolatory nature, verse 1, &c. Li a vast variety of
affecting passages, he exhorts his followers to the exercise of a joyful
hope in the severest trials, making that an indispensable duty, which is
indeed a glorious privilege. " Fear not them," saith he, " which are
not able to kifl the soul. Whosoever shall confess me before men, liim
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven," Malt, x, 28, 32.
" Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom," Luke xii, 31. "I give unto my sheep eternal life, and
they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands,"
John X, 27, 28.
He appears anxious that his people should be partakers of his peace,
his joy, and his hope, till they come to the possession of consunutiale
blessedness. " l^hcse things have I spoken," saith he, " that in me ye
might have peace. In the world ve shall have tribulation ; but be of
150 TOE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
good cheer : I have overcome the world," John xvi, 33. " Let not your
heart be troul)led. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to
prepare a place for you, I will coine again and receive you unto myself,
that where 1 am there may ye be also," xiv, 1-3. " Ye now have sor-
row : but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your
joy no man taketh from you," Jolui xvi, 22. He exhorts them continually
to expect his return, Luke xii, 40, and even condescends to mention the
very terms in which he will, at that time, salute every waiting believer.
The prayers of Christ, as well as his exhortations and promises, tend
to produce and support the most exalled hope in the souls of beHevers,
He has graciously interceded Ibr them ; he stiU continues to make inter-
cession, and his prayer is always prevalent. Mark a few sentences of
that memorable prayer, which he once offered up for all his followers,
and which forms the seventeenth chapter of St. John's Gospel. " O
Father ! I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me. Holy Father ! keep, througli thine own name, those whom thou
hast given me, and sanctify them through thy truth. Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word ; that thev may all be one, even as we are one. Father ! I w ill
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory."
A lively hope, founded upon these prayers and declarations of the
blessed Jesus, enabled the primitive Christians to triumph over every
affliction. Li the midst of tlie most terrible persecutions they could con-
gratulate one another on their common blessedness, and say, <' Our life
is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
then shall we also appear with him in glory," Col. iii, 4. For " he shall
yet come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that
believe," 2 Tliess. i, 10.
The apostles, agreeable to the example of their Master, were unani-
mous in publishuig this glorious hope ; and St. Paul very frequently
insists upon it, as a most important duty. " Let us," saith he, " who are
of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for
a helmet the hope of salvation," 1 Thess. v, 8. " I beseech you, brethren,
present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God — rejoicing in hope,"
Rom. xii, 1, 12. " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice,"
Phil, iv, 4. This evangehcal hope will ever be experienced, as a never-
failing source of consolation and thankfulness ; and hence, wherever the
hope of the Gospel is preached, there believers continue to bo filled with
unspeakable joy. Acts xiii, 52. How truly happy would Christians be,
were such a hope to flourish among them ! Far from disputing any
longer for the trifles of time and sense, they would joyfully renounce them
all, in expectation of an eternal inheritance; and instead of running to
the frivolous amusements of the woi'ld for a momentary recreation, every
passing day would appear too short for the exhilarating duties of praise
and thanksgiving.
It is asserted by many, that this Divine hope is usually insisted upon
by every minister. Tliat preachers in general are accustomed to exhort
their hearers, in a cold and languid maimer, to hope in the Divine mercy,
will readily be granted. But that such do not publish the real, evan-
gelical hope of Christians, mav be easily proved beyond the possibility
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUIj. 151
of a doubt. We have seen, in the preceding sections, that the minister
of the present day is imacquaintcd with this hope ; that he is even without
any just ideas of that true repentance, and that hving faith, from which
alone this hope can flow. And hence it is impossible for him, in the
nature of tilings, to pubhsh it in the Church of God. In vain has Christ
himself declared that the broad way \\ill conduct multitudes to destmc-
tion, and that " except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God," Jolm iii, 5. In spite of these solenm declarations,
the worldly pastor still imagines that this very way will conduct him to
life, and that he shall be counted among the inhabitants of that kingdom
without Scriptural regeneration. He supposes, at least, that he is suffi-
ciently sanctified, though liis righteousness exceeds not that of the Pha-
risees, nor his devotion that of the Laodicean Church. Thus, entertaming
a vain hope in his owii heai't, and indulging a confidence which is
repugnant to the concurrent testimonies of every sacred writer, he neces-
sarily leads liis hearers mto the same dangerous delusions.
As in order solidly to found our hopes upon a benefactor, or a surety,
it is necessary to have an acquaintance with the person who presents
himself in either of these characters, so the hvely hope of which we
speak must flow from an experimental knowledge of God, by Jesus
Christ. " This is eternal life, that they may luiow thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," John xvii, 3. But the
■cliildren of this world, whether they be iajTnen or ecclesiastics, are des-
titute of tliis knowledge. They know neither the Father nor the Son ;
and were it other\vise, the love of the world would not have dominion
over them.
This hvely hope can never dwell in an um-egenerate heart. The
child that is not born caimot possibly rejoice in hope of possessing the
heritage of his father ; since he is equally unacquainted with his parent,
and the patrimony that is hkely to be reserved for liim. It is, therefore,
absolutely necessary to be bom of God, before we can exercise this
cxhilaratuig hope. Now a man is thus bom when he is regenerated by
that spirit of adoption, which God hath promised to those who sincerely
believe in Jesus Christ. But they who are confomiable to the maxims
of the world are not able to receive this vivifying spirit. " I will pray
the Father," said Christ to his disciples, " and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth liim not, neither luioweth
lum ; but [being already regenerated in part] ye know him ; for he
dwcUeth with you, and shall be in you," when you are fully born of the
Spirit, John xiv, 16, 17. It is not till after the accomphshmeht of this
promise has been experienced, that the follo\ving expressions can be
fully understood : " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost?" 1 Cor. vi, 19. "Now the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, througli the
power of the Holy Ghost," Rom. xv, 13.
Far from preaching this primitive hope, the worldly minister is alarmed
at the bare mention of it. Let it here be observed again, that this celes-
tial plant cmi flourish only in those hearts where the word of God, sharper
than any two-cdged sword, has cut down every unfruitful apjjearance of
Pharisaical hope. Now when a true minister is engaged in performuig
1 52 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
this preparatory work, cutting away the mortified niemhers ol' the old
man, and plucking from pride its unprofitable supports, the inexperienced
minister preposterously takes offence at his holy zeal, and censures this
necessarj^ severity, as leading souls into the horrors of despair. Slow of
understanding in spiritual concerns, he comprehends not that they who
recUne upon a broken reed must give up all the confidence they foolishly
place in so slender a prop, before they can effectually choose the Rock
of ages for their support.
The true character of these false apostles is not generally known.
Covering their impiety with the cloak of religion, they are supposed by
many to act on the part of Christ, and are frequently esteemed as pillars
in the Church. But there are occasions on which they unwittuigly throw
off the mask, and make an open discovery of their secret thoughts. Some
few persons are found in the world, who, refusmg to attend card assem-
blies, rejoice to be present in those less polite assemblies which are
formed for the purpose of prayer. Here it is usual for consenting neigh-
bours to take sweet counsel together, and wrestle with ardour for the
hoi>e of the Gospel, in words Uke these : " Gracious Father ! forgive the
sins of thy returning children, and grant us an increase of spiritual
strength. Sensible of our o^vn unworthiness, assist us to place all our
confidence in thy unbounded mercy, manifested through Jesus Christ.
Increase our faith in the Son of thy love, and confirm our hope in thine
unchangeable promises. O thou Divine Saviour ! descend this day into
our hearts, as thou didst once descend upon thy first disciples. Conse-
crate us thy living temples, fill us with thy graces, and, duruig the time
of our earthly pilgrimage, vouchsafe to lead us with the right hand of
thy power. Let not thy Spirit of illumination and holiness, thy Spirit of
consolation and joy, abandon us for a moment, as we pass through this
valley of tears. May its potent operations subdue in us the power of sin,
and produce in our outward conversation the happj' fruits of righteous-
ness, peace, and joy. Permit us, at this time, to return to our houses
\vith a consciousness of thy love, and an assurance of thy favour ; and
grant that, after having been the temples of thy Spirit upon earth, we
may one day be received into the temple of thine eternal glory in the
heavens."
A worldly minister, on a certain time, entering into an assembly of
this kind, heard the prayer of these humble believers ; and, as much sur-
prised to see the ardour with which they offered their petitions, as to
observe the time and place in which they were presented, withdrew from
their society, with as much mdignation as a good pastor would retire
from a company of jugglers. But having understood that one of his o^vn
parishioners was of the religious party, he took tlie earliest opportunity
of testifying the utmost disapprobation of his conduct. " What was it,"
said he, " that you was doing with those people the other day, in such a
place ? Conventicles of that land are contrary to order, and unworthy
of toleration. The church is the only proper place for the performance
of Divine worship. Moreover, I heard you foolishly praying for 1 know
not what consolation, light, and power, of the Holy Spirit. Receive in
good part the advice 1 offer you. Look upon inspirations and illumina-
tions of this sort as no other than the idle fiincies of visionaries and
enthusiasts. Renounce the imaginary' assurance, with which you do but
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 153
deceive yourself, and repose upon the hope which I have constantly
preached to you ; a hope with which you, and your neighbours, may
very well rest contented." Confounded with a discourse of this kind, a
weak and inexperienced Christian might have been drawn aside from the
narrow path of truth. But the person here alluded to, by citing Eph. i,
17, 18, was enabled to prove that the very same illumination and power,
which were treated so contemptuously by his opponent, were nevertheless
absolutely necessary, as the groundwork of a solid hope. Nay, he pushed
the matter still farther ; and asserted, that the prayer against wliich the
zealous pastor had so angrily exclaimed, was used in exact conformity
to those very petitions which he himself was incessantly heard to ofl'er
at the feast of pentecost, and at other solemn seasons.
If this little relation faithfully describes the manner of thinking which
is too common among the clergy of the day, is it not evident that they
are more disposed to ridicule than to preach the Christian hope : and
abundaiitly more earnest to obstruct, than to farther their parishioners in
the pursuit of everlasting blessedness ?
When the dawn of this glorious hope first began to ghmmer ; when,
at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole company of disciples
began to praise God with a loud voice, strewing the way by which their
Lord was to pass with garments and branches of trees, and crying out
before him, " Hosanna to the Son of David : blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord : hosanna in the highest !" Some of the Phari-
sees, who had mixed among the multitude, rudely exclaimed, " Master,
rebuke thy disciples." And when he had entered into the temple, " the
chief priests and scribes [those models by which the generality of minis-
ters seem anxious to form themselves] seeing the wonderful things that
he did, and the children ciying Hosamia, were sore displeased, and said
unto him, Hearest thou what these say ?" And Jesus answered them,
" Yea ; have ye never read. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected praise ? I tell you, that if these should hold their
peace, the stones would immediately cry out," Matt, xxi ; Luke xix.
There still exists the same opposition between those who cordially
embrace the Gospel, and those who ungratefully reject it. As often as
the former are perceived to give a loose to the transports of their grati-
tude, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, the worldly minister, dis-
pleased to observe any thing that appears to reproach his own lukewarm-
ness, is prepared to stifle the motions of that joyful hope, which he
deems no better than the confidence of presumptuous fanatics. While
the faithful minister, who imitates St. Paul, on observing such a scene,
will cry out with that great apostle, " Now the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the
power of the Holy Ghost," Rom. xv, 13.
If penitents are not pointed to the blessedness of this hope, they will
strive, like Cain, to stifle their remorse by passionately abandoning them-
selves to the business and enjoyments of the present world : or, like the
Israelites, avIio found not sufficient pleasure in religion to banish the
recollection of Egypt's vanities, they will indulge that spirit of trifling
which the apostle thus describes : " The people sat down to eat and
drink, and rose up to play," 1 Cor. x, 7. On the contrary, when the
Christian is directed to the hope of his high calling, he finds it a source
154 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
of unutterable consolation, and having discovered the treasure hidden in
the Gospel field, " for joy thereof he selleth his all," in order to piu*.
chase that field. He now renoimces, witliout pain, what before had
hindered him in running the heavenly race, counting nothing dear to
himself, that he may finish his course with joy, and insure the crown of
everlasting life. So powerfully were the first Christians supported by
this Gospel hope, that they remained unmovable amidst the sorest
calamities of life, and suffered death itself with a courage that astonished
the persecutors. But when they lost their confidence, like Demas, they
began to indulge the fond hopes and foolish fears of the present world,
becoming altogether weak, as other men. And such are the generality
of Christians at this day. The love of many is waxuig cold, while the
Church of God is evidently falling into ruins. And how shall we assist
to rekindle that love, or to repair that Church, but by zealously pro-
claiming abroad the " hope of the Gospel ?"
TJie tme minister preaches Christian charity.
If the evangelical pastor proclaims repentance, faith, and hope, it is
with a view of leading sinners to that Christian charity which is justly
esteemed the crown of every grace. In preaching repentance, he lays
the axe to the root of every corrupt tree. In publishing evangelical
faith, he plants the tree of hfe. When he proclaims the hope of the
Gospel, he causes that tree to put forth a beautiful blossom. But when
he preaches Christian charity, he calls forth the rich fruit from every
vigorous branch. And while he is engaged in performing the various
parts of this important work, he denounces the anathemas of the Gospel
against that repentance, faith, and hope, which are superficial, unfruit-
ful, and delusive.
The minister of the day piques himself upon preaching morality,
which he is ordinarily accustomed to do in the manner of a heathen
philosopher. Unacquainted with the unportance and power of the doc-
trines of Christianity, he is ashamed to walk in the traces of St. Paul.
If he is enabled to paint, with any degree of ability, the serpents of envy,
the inquietudes of avarice, and the delights of charity, he imagines that
he shall readily dispose his neighbours to love as brethren. He knows
not that " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is that alone
which can make any man " free from the law of sin and death," by
delivering liim from that envy, that avarice, that ambition, that indiffer-
ence, and those worldly fears which are incompatible with evangelical
charity. " What the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh," i. e. our degenerate nature, which has need of stronger motives
and more powerful supports than those which the law proposes, " God
sending his own Son in the hkeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con-
demned sin in the flesh :" that by the new motives, and the Divine
assistance offered in the Gospel, " the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us," who, being regenerate, " walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit," Rom. viii, 4.
Tiie judicious pastor, observing the same connection between the
morals and doctrines of Christianity, as between the root and fruit of a
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 155
vigorous tree, is constrained incessantly to preach those important truths,
which naturally give rise to the three first-mentioned graces : and he is
perfectly assured, that wherever these truths are permitted to take root,
he shall shortly rejoice over the inestimable fruits of Christian charity.
This mode of acting is equally conformable to reason and revelation.
By publishing those doctrines upon which the necessity of repentance is
founded, he extennuiates pride and inordinate self love, which are the
gi'eatest obstacles to chaiuty. By preaching the doctrines of faith, he
gives rise to that universal love which extends to God and man. Thus
when a simier sincerely believes that " God is love," 1 John iv, 16 ;
when, penetrated with admiration and gratitude, he can say with the
apostle, " I hve by the foith of the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me," Gal. ii, 20 : at that moment he necessarily feels
a degree of afiection toward the creating Father, and the redeeming
Son, whom he longs to imitate, and whom he rejoices to obey. This
love is as boundless as it is ardent, and reaches to the most unworthy
of his fellow creatures, enabling him, after the example of Christ, to
sacrifice for his very enemies, not only outward comforts, but even life
itself. Hence the Christian faith is said to work by love. Now if this
lively persuasion of the unspeakable blessings which God hath already
given us ui Christ Jesus, is sufficient to produce in the soul a high degree
of Scriptural chaiity, it is evident that a well-grounded hope of gi'eater
blessings still to come, must necessarily serve to quicken and increase
this charity. And if we are fully persuaded that our labours of love
shall never be forgotten ; that even a cup of cold water, imparted for
the love of Christ, shall not go unrewarded ; how vast an influence may
such a hope be expected to exert m opening the heart to universal
benevolence, and in producing all the fruits of evangelical love !
Convmced that to plead for charity, without insisting upon the doc-
trines by which it must be supported, woidd be builduig a house without
laying a solid foundation, the true minister industriously labours to explain
the nature, to exliibit the motives, and represent the effects of this wondrous
grace, in the clearest mtumer. To some, indeed, such discourses are
vain ; but others among his hearers are found, who, ravislied with the
lovehness of this virtue, and constrained by those motives which the
Gospel proposes, betake themselves to the exercise of it, with as much
ardour as the voluptuous run to their sensual entertainments.
Darliiiess differs not more fi'om light, than the charity of the faithful
minister differs from that of a sci'ibe ill instructed in the mysteries of the
kingdom. The love of the good pastor " rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth," 1 Cor. xiii, 6, which frequently comes to humble
human pride. On the contrary, the charity which every false apostle
preaches is no more than the phantom of a virtue, consoling the heart
in the midst of sin, rejoicing in a lie, and resting upon assurance alto-
gether contrary to the word of God. To be charitable is, according to
the notions of these men, to indulge a persuasion that there is mucli to
be abated of the threatenings contained in the (xospel, and that St. I'aul
is far beside the truth when he declares, that " no unclean or covetous
person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ," Eph. v, 5. It
is to believe that the Holy Spirit was too severe, when it dictated to St.
James, that " he who is a friend of the world is the encmv of God," and
156 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
violates his baptismal vow in as full a sense as adulterers violate the
sacred vow of conjugal fidehty, James iv, 4. It is to insinuate that
Christ himself overpassed the boimds of reason when he publicly cried
out, " Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger
of hell fire," Matt, v, 22. " Judge not," saith the Redeemer, " that ye
be not judged," Matt, vii, 1. But, according to the sentiments of those
erring guides, to be Divinely charitable, is to conclude from tliis precept
that a man may even revoke the judgments of Christ himself; thus,
under pretext of not judging those who are evidently walking in the road
to perdition, they indirectly give judgment against the Redeemer, as
bearing a false testimony. In errors like these it is that the world will
needs have the greatest part of charity to consist.
The true minister attacks this false grace as an enemy to the truth of
the Gospel, while he pleads for that Christlike charity which may
properly be called the sister of truth. He asserts the dignity and power
of truth ; holding it up to the veneration and love of those who would
not wilfully offend the God of truth. Let us, continues he, " speaking
the truth in love, grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ," Eph. iv, 15 ; and having first " purified our souls in obeying
the truth," let us " love one another with a pure heart fervently," 1 Pet.
i, 22. Between these Scriptural companions he will sufler no separa-
tion to take place ; and m hen they are treated by the injudicious as
enthusiastic and heretical, he will dare to stand forth in defence of these
two confederate virtues.
Anotlier opinion that generally prevails among the professors of Chris-
tianity, is, that charity consists m giving alms to the poor. And this
opinion is earnestly contended for by many, although the Pharisees, who
were regarded by our Lord as " serpents and vipers," Matt, xxii, 33,
through their want of unfeigned charity, were yet remarkaljlo for thefr
generosity in almsgiving. St. Paul manifestly opposes this erroneous
notion, where he declares that it is possible for a man to " give all his
goods to feed the poor," and yet be destitute of chai'ity, 1 Cor. xiii, 3.
The faithful pastor, it is true, maintains that every charitable person is
constrained to assist the poor, according to his ability : but he adds, that
almsgiving is as uncertain a mark of charity, as a constant attendance
upon the sacramental table is an equivocal evidence of faith, since it is
as possible to reUeve the poor from weakness or vanity, as to receive
the holy commimion through timidity or custom.
If the charity of worldly men is ever found to exceed this description,
yet it will always be limited to the necessities of the body. As they
know not how far the immortal spirit is superior to the perishing body,
which must soon be blended in the dust of a thousand carcasses, it is no
wonder that their chief concern is engrossed by the latter. The wel-
fare of their own souls is attended to with a very small degree of soh-
citude : and while this is the case, it cannot be imagined that they should
manifest any extraordinary degree of affection toward the souls of their
neighbours. They behold without sorrow those deluded partisans, who
make war upon each other for the sake of their particular errors. They
can even gaze, without pity, upon those obdurate souls who are despe-
rately plunging from one abyss of sin to another. How different were
tlie feelings of David, when, like a true penitent, he not only wept for
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 157
his own offences, but shed torrents of tears for those who transgressed
the law of God," Psalm cxix, I'iG. And how contrary was the cha-
racter of St. Paul, who went through a kind of spiritual travail till the
degenerate were born again," Gal. iv, 19. In like manner the primitive
Christians exposed themselves to imminent dangers, that they might
give proofs of the most exalted charity, by snatcliing souls from sin and
death. And when they were not able to etiect this by their external
labours, lliey then wrestled in their closets, with secret prayers and tears,
for the conversion of the ungodly. Where there is no desire after the
salvation of others, there Christian charity is unknown. For while a
man disregards the soul of his neighbour, all the interest he takes in his
temporal affairs can manifest no more than the charity of a disciple of
Epicurus, which is as far below the charily of Christ's disciples, as
materialism is inferior to Christianity.
In opposition to all the erroneous notions, which too generally prevail
upon tliis important subject, the ministry of the New Testament teaches,
that evangelical charity is the image of God. And that eternal and
infinite charity is nothing less than God himself. One apostle declares
that " God is love ;" and another assures us, that we are called to be
made " partakers of the Divine nature," 2 Pet. i, 4 ; whence the sacred
preacher infers, that " the new creature," of which St. Paul makes
mention, 2 Cor. v, 17, must necessarily consist in charity. When a
Christian is filled Avith charity, he is then regenerate and born of God.
Christ is then formed in his heart, the Holy Spirit rests upon him, and
he is " filled with all the fulness of God," Eph. iii, 16, 19. He keeps the
first commandment of the law, by making a full surrender of his heart
to God, from a consciousness that he is in himself the sovereign Good ;
but he chiefly loves him in the person of Christ, through whom the
Father is pleased peculiarly to shine forth as a God of love. In a
secondaiy sense, he loves the works of God in all their wonderful
variet)', as they shadow forth his matchless perfections, and place them
within the reach of man's understanding. And his esteem for these
admirable [)roductions is in proportion to the nearer or more distant rela-
tion in which they stand to that eternal Wisdom which formed them all.
Guided by tlois principle, he loves all manldnd with an extraordinary
degree of affection. The soul of man is peculiarly dear to him, because
created in the image of God, and redeemed with the blood of his
beloved Son : while, as the organized vehicle of the soul, he admires
and loves the perishable body. As the souls of the poor and the rich
are equally immortal, he is never meanly prejudiced in favour of the
latter ; but, on the contrary, is ever ready to prefer a poor and pious
beggar, before a sensual and supercilious noble. Thus the true Chris-
tian cherishes the faithful, not only for love of the Creator and Redeemer,
but also for love of the sanctifying Spirit, unto whom their souls are
consecrated as living altars, and their bodies as hallowed temples,
1 Cor. vi, 19, 20. From this Divine charity good works of every kind
proceed, as from an inexhaustible fountain ; a tbuntain which is making,
as it were, continual efforts to enrich the barren soil around it. But,
where this is wanting, all external ai)pearances arc without any real
value. The lavish giver loses his worth before pious men, and the zeal
ous martyr his reward before a righteous God.
158 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
Uniting in his own heart the love of God with the love of his neigh-
bom-, the true minister anxiously endeavours to demonstrate the folly of
those who seek to separate these kindred virtues. lie maintains, that
charity without piety is but a mere natural virtue, which discovers itself as
frequently in the brute creation, as among unregenerate men. Thus, the
swallow and the bat are careful of their young — the beaver and the ant
are observed to labour for the respective societies of which they are
individuals, and the she bear is ready to meet death in defence of her
cubs. On this account, the good pastor furnishes his flock with those
exalted motives to Christian love, which, by imparting an evangelical
principle to mutual charity, ennobles it in man, and renders it Divine.
As charity, without piety, is no more than a natural virtue, and may
be the effect of Pharisaical or diabolical pride, so devotion, without
brotherly love, is to be considered as a species of hypocrisy. This our
Lord himself teaches in the following passage : "If thou bring thy gift
to the altar, and there remembercst that thy brother hath aught against
thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and oiler thy gift," which
would otherwise be rejected, as an abomination, by the God of love.
Matt. V, 23, 24. True charity embraces all men, because, being made
of one blood, they compose but one vast family, of which God himself
is the great Parent. And here our Lord permits us not to except even
our most cruel enemy. " Ye have heard," saith he, " that it hath been
said. Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you. Love yoiu' enemies, bless them that ciu'se you, do good to them
that hate you, and," manifesting a concern for their souls, as well as an
attention to their persons, " pray for them that despitefully use and per-
secute you ; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in
heaven. For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,"
Matt. V, 43-45. i
Charity consists of two parts, patience and benevolence. By the one,
we suffer every kind of indignity, without entertaining a thought of
revenge ; and by the other, we heap upon our enemies unsoUcited
favours. Our adorable Master, whose conduct has furnished us with
examples of the most perfect charity, discovers to us the extent of this
virtue, in the following passages : The world hath " hated both me and
my Father," John xv, 24 ; nevertheless, " God so loved the world, that
he gave liis only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in liim should
not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii, 16. " It hath been said,
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth ;" and the time is comuig, when
it shall be said, A thrust with a sword for an abusive word ; a pistol shot
for a satirical expression. " But I say unto you, Resist not," accorduig
to (he maxims of those by whom you are evil entreated ; but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also :" that
is, suflTcr two insults rather than revenge one. Follow the same nde
likewise with respect to your worldly substance, " and if any man will
sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak
also :" that is, far from exacting with rigour, be ready to remit much
of thy right, for the maintenance of peace ; since it is better to suffer a
double injustice, than to lack condescension and charity. " And whoso-
ever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain :" that is, merely
TIIS POKTEAIT OF ST. PAUL. 159
yielding to others in things that are good, or indifferent, is not enough ;
thy charity should rather prevent and surprise them widi unexpected acts
of civiUty luid kindness. From these expressions it appears that our
Lord would have his disciples to possess a charity not only extraorduiary
m some degi-ce, but altogether Divine. In point of" quality, he requires
that it should be equal to the inexj>ressiblc love of the Father ; as a drop
taken from the ocean is of the same nature with those mighty waves that
roll over the unfathomable deep. " If ye love them," saith he, " that
love you, what reward have you ? Do not even the pubUcans so ? Be
yc therefore perfect, [in charity,] even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect," Matt. v.
Faith, unspeakably excellent as it is, would be void of any real worth,
luiless it produced this happy disposition. " In Christ," saith the apos-
tle, " the whole body, [of the faithful,] fitly joined together, and com-
pacted by that which every joint suppUeth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body,
unto the edifying of itself in love," Eph. iv, 15, IG. "In Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth any thmg, nor uncircumcision ; but faith,
which workcth by love," Gal. v, 6. " And though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing,"
1 Cor. xiii, 4. This celestial grace runs through the whole circle of
Christian virtues. Thus, when St. Paul enumerates the fruits or effects
of the Spirit, he points to charity, as the foremost of the train. And
when St. Peter recounts the virtues which a Christian should add to his
fiiith, he concludes with the linishing graces of " brotherly kindness and
charity," Gal. v, 22 ; 2 Pet. i, 7. Both these ideas arc aflcrward united
by the great apostle, where he exhoits the Colossians " to put on charity,
as that bond of perfectness," Col. iii, 14, without which the Chris-
tian character would be incomiilete, and which may be said to mclude
all the graces of the Spirit, as a thousand ears of corn are united in the
same sheaf, by one common bimd.
It was with these subUmc views of charity, that St. Paul thus addressed
his converts. " By love serve one another ; for all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,"
Gal. v, 13, 14. "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another, for
he that loveth another, [in obedience to Clnist's command,] hath fulfilled
(he law," Rom. xiii, 8. " Charity never faileth ;" inasmuch as it is the
source of heavenly joy. "Now, [in the Church militant,] abide laith,
hope, and charity ; but the greatest of these is charity," which shall cer-
tainly animate the Church triumphant, 1 Cor. xiii, 8, 13.
Even here on earth it is counted as the beguming of eternal lifS to
know, by faith, that " God is love," and that he seeks to gain our affec-
tions by blessings without number, John xvii, 3. A discovery of this
kind cannot but give rise to some grateful return in the soul ; since it is
impossible firmly to believe these ravishuig truths, without crying out
tike the first Christians, " We love him, because he first loved us,"
1 John iv, 19. If God has mercifully made the first advances toward
his rebellious creatures, if notwithstanding tlie distance between him and
us be infinite, and the obstacles to our union innumerable, he yet gra-
ciously presents himself, in spite of all, within our reach ; if he yet
inclines to pardon the guilty, and endeavours to reconcile the world unto
160 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. v, 18 ; what conscious heart can be
unaffected with these tokens of his love, or what tongue can be silent
in his praise ?
Tliis God of charity thus affectionately addressed an ancient class of
liis servants : " I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee," Jer. xxxi, 3. The favour
here expressed toward the Jewish Church is gi-eat ; but that which is
testified by the same adorable Jehovah to the Christian Church, is still
more astonishing. His Son, the living and eternal image of his Father,
humbles himself to the dust, and invests himself with our nature, that
raising us from our low estate, he may at length place us at the right
hand of the majesty on high. " He loved the Church," saith St. Paul,
" and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, and that
ho might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing," Eph. v, 25, 27. Thus he has given to
believers an example of the love which they ought to enteilain for all
their Christian brethren, and to husbands a pattern of the attachment
they should feel to their wives ; since he left the bosom of his Father for
the very purpose of suffering with and for his Church, which, in the
language of Scripture, is called his spouse, Rev. xix, 7. But, adds the
apostle, " this is a great mystery," Eph. v, 32. Now the true minister
is happily initiated into this grand mysteiy of charity. He can say,
with Peter, " Lord ! thou knowcst all things ; thou knowest that I love
thee." He can testify, with Paul, " The love of Christ constrameth
me." And, at other times, when the emotions of his heart are too tender
for utterance, tears of gratitude and joy silently cry out, hke those of
dissolving Mary, " Lord, thou art worthy of all my love, since thou hast
graciously pardoned all my sin." Animated with this love, he publicly
insists upon universal charity, with all the ardour of St. John, testifying
that it flows from the knowledge of God, and must be considered as the
root of Christian obedience. " Hereby," saith he, " perceive we the
love of God, because he laid down his life for us ; and we ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren. My little children, let us not love in
word, neither in tongue ; but [according to the example of Christ] in
deed and in truth," 1 John iii, 16-18. For, if " God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another," and remember, " he that loveth not,
knoweth not God, for God is love," 1 John iv, 11, 8.
Altliough Christ evidently came to break down the wall of separation
between the Jews and Gentiles, by preaching the doctrine of universal
charity ; yet he willed that believers should love one another with a
peculiar degree of affection. We are required to meet the unregenerate
with a love of benevolence ; but believers should be bound to each other by
ties so tender and powei^flil, that the world may acknowledge them to be
men of one heart and one soul. " By this," saith our Lord, " shall all
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,"
John xiii, 35. And who can describe the generosity, the sweetness, the
strength, and the constancy, of this enlivenmg grace ? It is more active
than the penetrating flame ; it is stronger than death. The communion
of saints is received among Christians as a sentence in their established
creed. Happy would it be did it constitute a part of their religious ex-
perience ! As to the difference between Cliristian charity and that which
iUE POKTRAIT OF ST. IVVfL. 161
was required under the law, it seems to be satisfactorily pointed out by
St. Jolui in the lollowing passage : " Brethren, I write no new com-
mandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the
beginning:" for Moses liimself earnestly exhorted his people to main-
tain among themselves the holy fire of fraternal love. " Again, a new
commandment I write unto you," 1 John ii, 7, 8 ; new, in relation to
Christ, who hath loved us not only as himself, but even more than him-
self; since he offered up his life a ransom for the rebelUous. Moses
tasted m>t of death for Pharaoh, as Jesus did for Pilate, Herod, and Caia-
phas. Tlie Christian Legislator alone requires a charity of this perfectly
disinterested nature ; and for the support of so "exalted a precept, he has
seconded it with his own gi'cat exam])le. " Herein is love," continues
the apostle, " not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propiiiation for our sins." Love, then, is undoubtedly of
God ; flowing from him, as from an inexhaustible spring ; " and he that
loveth [after the same pure and fervent manner] is bom of God, and
kno\\''eth God," 1 Jolin iv, 7, 11.
This charity is set forth by St. Paul as a source of consolation. " If,"
saith he to the Philippians, " there be any comfort in love, be ye like-
minded, having the same love [one to another ;]. and let this mmd be in
you, which M'as also in Cliinst Jesus," Phil, ii, 1, 6. And, in another
epistle he cries out, "I have a great conflict foafliem at Laodicea, that
their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love," Col. ii, 1, 2.
1. Charity may be considered as a spring yf comfort, because it frees
us from the fear of death, and delivers us from a thousand other terrors,
which trouble the peace of worldly men. " There is no fear in love ;
but perfect love, hoping all things, casteth out fear ; because fear hath
torment. He therefore that feareth is not made perfect in love,"
1 Jolin iv, 18.
2. Charity is consoling, because it assists and encourages us in the
discharge of our several duties. When we glow with afiection to God
and our neighbour, works of piety and charity are performed not only
without pain, but \\ ith heartfelt sensations of secret delight. " This is
the love of God, that we keep his commandments ;" and to those who
sincerely love him, " his commandments arc not giievous," 1 John v, 3.
Thus a tender mother loses her repose without repining, that she may
tend to the wants of her restless infant ; thus an afiectionatc father
labours with pleasure for the support and education of his children ; and
thus, with every testimony of joy, the primitive Christians relieved and
supported one another. The admirable effects produced by this un-
feigned love are described b}' St. Luke in the following terms : " The
multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul ; neither
said any of them that aught of the tilings which he possessed was his
own ; but [losing sight of every self-interesting view] they had all things
common," Acts iv, 32.
Here we behold that eminently accomplished by Christ which was
anciently prefigured unto Moses in the desert, when the manna was so
equally distributed among the people, that " he who gathered much had
nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack," Exod. xvi, 18.
Happy were these fleeting days of Christian fellowship ! Days that
had long been promised by God, and of which a foretaste had been given
Vol. III. II
162 THE POETRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
in the land of* Canaan, when it was ordained that, during the year of
Jubilee, the poor should be permitted to share the comforts of their richer
neighbours. It must be alloAved, that a multitude of insincere professors
overspreading the Church in these melancholy times, will not permit
this method to be generally adopted among us, which would nevertheless
be entirely practicable in a country inhabited by the affectionate follow-
ers of Jesus. But at the same time it is no less true, that every indi.
vidual who is possessed of real charit}', is still treading in the steps of
his elder brethren, and waiting only the return of favourable times to
prove that " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,"
Heb. xiii, 8, and that unfeigned charity, in the same circumstances, will
ever produce the same eflect.
It is impossible too higiily to exalt this charity, which springs from a
grateful sense of the redemption that is in Jesus. He who is unac-
quainted with this grace is a stranger to every real virtue, and utterly
destitute of that " holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,"
Heb. xii, 14. Hence we find the Apostle Paul so frequently connecting
holiness with love ; or rather, pressing the latter as the ground of the
former. " God," saith he, " hath chosen us in Christ, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love," Eph. i, 3, 4. " Let
Christ dwell in }our hearts by faith ; tliat ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to* comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height ; and to knoAv the love of Christ,
wliich passeth Icnowledge, that j'^e might be filled with all the fulness of
God," Eph. iii, 17, 18. "The Lord make you to increase and abound
in love one toward another, and toward all men ; to the end that he may
establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God," 1 Thess. iir,
12, 13. -
"Knowledge [alone] puffeth up, but charity [added to knowledge]
edifieth," 1 Cor. vii, 1, and conducts the soul fi-om grace to grace,
"unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," Eph. iv, 13.
Happy they who have attained to this high degi'ee of spirituality, fronj
which, with a look of pure beneficence, they can smile on all around
them ! Such may join the first professors of Christianity, and say, " We
have known and believed the love that God hath to us," and, penetrated
with a deep sense of his aflection, we declare, from happy experience,
that " God is love ; and he that dwellcth in love, dwelleth in God and
God in him," 1 John iv, 16. The love of these persevering disciples
may, in a Scriptural sense, he termed " pertect ;" since it enables them
to bear a jtist, though faint resemblance to the God of love, 1 John iv,
17. Their hearts are as replete with charity as sparks are filled with
fire ; and doubtless the smallest spark may be said to shine with a degree
of perfection, in its little sphere, as well as the brighter sun in his more
boundless course.
St. Paul, who preached this charity with so much fervency, declares,
that it was kindled in his heart by the love of Christ ; and upon this
account he labours to found it upon those doctrines which are universally
despised by every class of Deists. In his Epistle to the Romans, which
contains sixteen chapters, he employs eleven in laying this solid founda-
tion, while the duties of charity are declared only in the five remaining
chapters. Like a wise master-builder, before he attempts to raise this
THE PORTRAIT OF ST., PAUL. "l63
sacred edifice, he endeavours to remove out of the way the ruins of cor-
rupted nature, and the nibbish of seU' love. But had he endeavoured to
do this without caUing in to his aid the doctrines of the Gospel, he would
have acted as ridiculously as Archimedes, had that philosopher attempted
the removal of the earth without having first secux'ed a solid footing
suited to his purpose.
The most powerful motives employed by this apostle in urging us to
the practice of Christian charity, are the love of God and the compas-
sion of Christ. " God," saith he, " commendeth his love toward us, in
that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us," Rom. v, 8 ; and, "ye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be-
come rich," 2 Cor. viii, 9. Now, whoever is sensible of the power, and
tastes the sweetness, of these two grand truths, feels himself at the same
time carried to every good work, in the same manner as the miser is led
to those actions which serve to increase his hoard. For, " being saved
by grace, thi'ough faith," in these very tmths, " we are created by Christ
Jesus unto good works," Eph. ii, 8, 10. " Who gave himself for us,"
on this sole account, "that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto liimself a peculiar people zealous of good works," Tit. ii, 14.
The consolatory doctrine of a gratuitous jfardon offered to sinners as a
token of God's unfathomable love, is another motive frequently made use
of to the like purpose. " Put on," continues the same apostle, " as the
elect of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meek-
ness, long suffering ; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
if any man have a quarrel against any : even as Christ forgave you, so
also do ye," Col. iii, 12, 13. "Above all things have fei-vent charity
among yourselves ; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins," 1 Pet.
iv, 8. A'es, it not only covers the sins of others, by considering their
doubtful actions in the most favourable point of view, and by overlook-
ing the most unpardonable of their failings ; but toay, in some measure,
be said to cover our own udences, since God,Wor Christ's sake, has
promised to overlook our transgressions, as we give proof of a iorgiving
temper toward our brethren. Discord entered into the world by sin.
Hence we»see unregenerate men not only separated from God, but
divided am(fhg themselves : and hence, by the rebellion of his growing
passions against liis enfeebled reason, every unrighteous man is at war
with himself. Dreadful as these evils are, we are here presented with
a perfect remedy for them all. He who created man upright, has sent
his Son to re-establish harmony in the world, to reduce our passions
under the dominion of universal benevolence, to subject our reason to the
authority of tnith, and to subdue the whole man under the sweet yoke
of charity manifested in the flesh ; that charity which is destined to reign
for ever, and whose happy empire is called the " Idngdom of heaven."
" The Father of glory," says St. Paul, " hath put all things under the
feet of Christ, and hath given him to be the head over all things to the
Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all," Eph.
i, 17, 23. " Ye, who sometimes were far off, are now made nigh by
the blood of Christ. For he is our peace " between Jews and Gentiles,
between man and man, " who hath made both one, and hath broken
do\vn the middle wall of partition between us, Ihat he might reconcile
164 THE POHTKAIT OF ST. PAtL.
both unto God in one body, by: the cross, having slain the enmity " by
that perfect charity of which he gave so many wonderful proofs. "Now
therefore," we, who are actuated by the same spirit of love, " aie no
more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of
the household of God ; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief comer stone. In
whom the whole building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord : in whom also ye are builded together for a habita-
tion of God, through the Spirit" of charity, Eph. ii, 13, 22.
The minister who feels the force of these constraining motives, can-
not fail to place them continually before his hearers. The various parts
of his public discourses as iialuvally incline to this grand point, as the
several parts of a solid edifice mutually rest upon the common founda-
tion. " There is one body," saith he with the apostle, " and one Spirit,
even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,"
Eph. iv, 4, 6. " As we have many members in one body ; so we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Let love be, therefore, without dissimulation : be kmdly affectioned one to
another, with brotherly love ; in honour preferring one another. Rejoice
with them that do rejoice ; and weep with them that weep. Be of the
same mind one toward another. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath. If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give
him drink. Be not overcome of evil ; but overcome evil with good,"
Rom. xii, 4, 21. In a word, "let all things be done with charity,"
1 Cor. xvl, 14.
To conclude. The evangelical pastor points out the excellence of
charity, and urges every motive that can lead to the practice of it, till
worldly men are constrained to cry out, with all the admiration of the
ancient heathens, " See how these Christians love one another !" Lu-
cian, indeed, could Iqpk with "ridicule upon the zeal with which the
primitive Christians Scoured one another: "For," says he, "their
legislator has made them believe that they are all brethren ; and. hence
they have all tilings common among them, despismg even death itself,
through the hope of un'mortality." The good pastor, however, is anxiouf
to do that which this heathen writer was impious enough to censure in
Christ. He admonishes beUevers to address the Ahnighty as their com-
mon parent, Luke xi, 2 ; conscious that so soon as they receive power
to cry, " Abba," that is. Father, by the Holy Spirit, they will necessarily
forget every scrupulous distinction between muie and thme, and put up,
with unfeigned sincerity, that universal prayer, "Give us this day our
daily bread." This petition is commonly used by every member of our
degenerate Church, while their hearts are comparatively insensible to
the wants of their necessitous brethren. But were the love of ancient
days to revive among us, we should not only solicit common blessings
from above, but rejoice to share them with each other, as bretliren par-
fake of a repast provided for them at the table of their common parent.
Happy days! when the Gospel of Christ was seen to tiourish in the
earfh. Surely that sacred season might, w ith propriety, be termed the
golden age of the Church. O that we could recall the'felicity we have
Ibrfcited, and sec the joys of unanimity restored to a distracted vvoild !
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 165
But wliile we give vent to our lamentations, let us not sink into despair,
since, however deplorable our present circumstances may be, they are
not totally remediless. Though for so many ages, self love has usurped
the throne of charity : though mankind are prone to injure one another,
in their reputation by slander ; in their property by injustice ; and in
their persons by murder, whether perpetrated in the character of an
assassin, or that of a duelhst ; though wars are fomented on the slightest
pretences, and Christian princes appear eager to wash their hands in the
blood of thousands : though " all the earth is full of darluiess and cruel
habitations," Pcalm Ixxiv, 21, yet will we not give up our hope. These
unhappy times were foretold by our gracious Master, Matt, xxiv, 12.
And as he had prescience enough to predict the decays of Christian love,
and the calamities consequent thereupon ; so he is possessed of sufficient
power to re-establish the empire of charity in the world. Believers, then,
amidst all their afflictions, may patiently and conlidently expect those
"times of refreshing" which shall assuredly "come from the presence
of the Lord ;" looking forward to that promised "reslitutiun of all things,"
concerning " wliich God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy pro-
phets since the world began," Acts iii, 19, 21. In the meanwhile, let
those who are hastenliig, by their prayers, this desirable revolution, be
careful to preserve in their own hearts those sparks of charity which
shall one day kindle the universe into a sacred flame. And let the
ministers of the Gospel make a constant display, of those evangelical
truths wliich were formerly sufficient to light up rtiis glorious fire ; that,
by'stirring up the dying embers of grace, the httle Hght, wliich still
remains in the Church, may be presened from total extinction.
Should it be here objected — Are not all the ministers of our Church
to be considered as preachers of Christian charity ? We answer. By no
means. The charitj^, concerning which we speak, must flow from a
union with Christ ; a union which ministers of the present day are
accustomed to treat as enthusiastic and vain. This excellent grace " is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us,"
Rom. V, 5. But he who dares openly to plead for this Scriptural
truth, is esteemed by such preachers no better than a deluded fanatic,
rhese insincere preachers are frequently heard, indeed, to speak of
Christian charity, but far from endeavouring to spread it through the
Avorld, they use every effort to destroy the very seeds of this gi-ace in
the Church of God. If, in a parish that is unhappy enough to have a
pastor of this kind, a few persons are happily converted to God, and
united together in Jesus Christ; if, having one heart, and one soul,
they frequently join together in prayer and in praise, mutually exhorting
and provoking one another to love and good works ; the worldly minis-
ter, instantly alarmed, imagines that these persons, for the sake of form-
ing a new sect, are destroying the unity of the Church ; when, on the
contrary, they are but just about to experience the communion of saints.
And, if he be possessed of zeal, or party spirit, he will labour to make
it appear that these Christians, who are beginning to love as brethren,
are forming conventicles to disturb the order both of Church and state.
Such a minister will give encouragement to companies of jugglers,
dancers, and drunkards, rather than tolerate a society which has Chris-
tian charity for its object and basis.
166 TTTE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
The tnie minister believes and preaches the three grand promises of God,
together' with tJie three great dispensations of grace.
We have seen, in the preceding chapters, that behevers are saved by
a hvely faith and a joyful hope, which mutually serve to excite and
increase in their souls the superior grace of charity. Now this faith
and this hope must necessarily have lor their foundation some promise
of God. A promise already accompli«':"l is embraced by faith alone;
but a promise, whose accomplishment is protracted, is equally the object
of faith and of hope. He, therefore, who is appointed by Christ a
preacher of the everlasting Gospel, is solicitous to obtain clear ideas of
the great promises of God. He is constantly engaged in meditating upon
their past or future accomplishment, in order to maintain in his own.
}ieart those inestimable graces ^vith which he is desirous to animate the
souls of others. Observe the order in which he considers, embraces,
and preaches them.
Under the dispensation of the Father, the grand promise was that
which respected the external manifestation of the Son. The original
promise, as made to Adam, was expressed in the following tenns : —
" The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent," Gen.
iii, 1.5. As the Messiah was to descend from Abraham, according to
the flesh, the same promise was thus renewed to that patriarch : "In
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed," Gen. xii, 3. In the days
of Moses, it was repeated to all Israel, as follows : " The Lord thy God
will raise up unto thee a prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
unto him shall ye hearken," Deut. xviii, 15. David and the other pro-
phets powerfully confirmed this prophecy, and Malachi thus recapitulates
the promises which had been given before his time : " The Lord whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the
covenant whom ye delight in ; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of
Hosts," Mai. iii, I. " Unto you, that fear my name, shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in 'his wings; and ye shall go forth,"
out of your present obscure dispensation, " and grow up," in spiritual
strength, " as calves of the stall," Mai. iv, 2. Thus" speaks the last of
the prophets, under the dispensation of the Father.
Immediately upon the accomplishment of these promises, while the
dispensation of the Son was but darkly opened by his precursor, another
promise was given for the exercise of faith and hope, under this new econ-
omy, respecting the full manifestation of the Holy Ghost, as a Spirit of
truth and love. Behold this grand promise as announced by John the
Baptist : " I am not the Christ ; I am the voice of one crying in the wilder-
ness. Make straight the way of the Lord," John i, 20, 23. " I baptize
you with water unto repentance," as a preparation for the spiritual king-
dom and baptism of the Messiah : " but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear." He shall intro-
duce a more spiritual dispensation, and administer a more efiicacious
baptism : for "he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and ^^•ith fire,"
shedding abroad those gifts and graces of his Spirit, which shall pene-
trate and purify your hearts, as metals are penetrated aid purified by
material fire," Matt, iii, 11. This promise. is of so great importance
that it was thought necessai-y to be repeated by the four evangelists.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL. \G1
Our Lord, continuing the dispensation which his forerunner liad
opened, " made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus
himself baptized not, with water, but liis disciples," John iv, 1, 2. The
baptii«n which he was about to administer, was as far superior to the
baptism of Jolm, and that of his own disciples, as the water of which he
spake to the woman of Samaria was superior to the water of Jordan,
or that of Jacob's well. " Whosoever shall drink of the water that I
shall give him," said he to that inquiring woman ; whosoever shall come
to my baptism, and let dowTi his vessel mto the inexhaustible fountain of
my grace, "shall never thirst : but tiie water that I shall give him, shall
be in him a well of water," a source of righteousness, peace, and joy,
"springing up into everlasting life," John iv, 14.
In order to strengthen the hope of those who had been baptized with
water, our Lord pubhcly ratified the promise which had been so fre-
quently repeated to them by John the Baptist. " In the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried. If any man thirst, let him
come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he
spake of the Spirit, which they that beUeve on him, in every age, should
receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet fully given, because that
Jesus was not yet glorified," Jolin vii, 37-39. An inestimable promise
this, wliich desemes to be deeply engraven in the minds of those who
are merely acquainted with Christ, according to his exterior appear-
ance in the world. Observe here the method by which the blessed Jesus
endeavours to prepare all such, in every countrj' and in every period, for
his manifestation in the Spirit : " If you love me, keep my command,
ments ;" be faithful to the present dispensation of my Gospel, " and I
will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you for ever. At that day," when ye shall experience
the fulness of his presence, " ye shall know that I am in my Father,
and ye in me, and I in }'ou." For "he that loveth me, shall be loved
of my Father, and I will love him, and we will come unto him, and make
our abode with him," John xiv, 15-23. By comparing these words
with the seventeenth and twenty-sixth verses of the same chapter, it is
evident, that by this spiritual manifestation of the Father and the Son,
nothing less can be intended than the full measure of that Holy Spirit
*" which proceedeth from the Father," John xv, 26, and which is ex.
pressly called "the Spirit of the Son," Gal. iv, 6.
Our Lord, who knew the stupidity of those who were under the infe-
rior dispensation of his Gospel, and how " slow of heart" they were " to
beUeve" what either the prophets or himself had spoken, judged it expe.
dient to repeat the grand promise of the Spirit again and again. " When
the Comforter is cjme," said he, " whom I will send unto you from the
Father, he shall testify of me," Jolm xv, 26. "It is expedient for you
that I go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto
you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you," John xvi, 7. " Behold
I send the promise of my Father upon you," Luke xxiv, 49.
The abundant eflasion of the Holy Spirit was termed by our Lord the
promise of the Father, for two reasons : first, because, coming to instnict
mankind how to worship the Father " in spirit and in truth," it became
him to refer allthings to that Father. And this he was strictly and con-
168 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
stanlly accustomed to do. Secondly, because " the Father of lights" is
to be considered as the author of " every good and perfect gift." It was
he who so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to die for
the world, and from him proceeds that H(jly Spirit, which Jesus Christ
still continues to shed abroad among his faithful followers. The Father had
already promised, under the law, that he Avould grant imto his people a
general outpouring of his Spirit, under the reign of the Messiah. The
memorable prophecy of Joel, as quoted by St. Peter, is generally known ;
and the following promises equally merit the attention of believers. " In
that day I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall
look upon me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,
as one mourneth for his only son," Zech. xii, 10. " I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour
my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring," Isaiah
xliv, 3. " I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.
I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,"
Ezek. xxxvi, 25-27. " I will give them one heart : I will take the stony
heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh," Ezek. xi, 19.
That man must be prejudiced to an extreme degree, who perceives not
that these gracious prophecies began to receive their accomplishment
upon the day of pentecost, when the multitude of them that believed were
" of one heart and one soul."
The last day our' risen Saviour passed upon earth was employed in
strengthening the faith of his disciples, with respect to this promise.
After having assembled tliem together, " he commanded them to ^vait
for the promise of the Father, which," continued he, "ye have heard of
me. For John truly baptized with water," and ye have done the same
by my direction, " but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence," Acts i, 4, 5.
After the grand promise under the dispensation of the Son was in part
accomplished ; when the disciples were fifled Avith faith, and with the
Holy Ghost, another promise was given to exercise their faith, to fix
their attention, and to perfect their patience ; the jn'omise of Christ's
second coming to " gather his wheat into the garner, and to bum up the
chaff with unquenchable fire," Matt, iii, 12. "This same Jesus," said
the angels who appeared to the disciples on the day of their Master's
ascension, " this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts
i, 11. This important promise was afterward repeated by St. Paul and
the other apostles. " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven,
with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
obey not the Gospel ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the pi'esence ol^ the Lord, when he shall come to be glorified in his
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe," 2 Thess. i, 7-10.
" Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they
also which pierced him ; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him," Rev. i, 7. " The day of the Lord will come as a Ihief in the
night," 2 Pet. iii, 10.
This coming of Christ, which is disregarded by many, for the reason
assigned by St. Peter, 2 Pet. iii, 9, 10, is so fully expected by those who
THE rORTRAIT Or ST. VXX'L. 1G9
Uvo under ilie dispensation of the Spirit, that they are constantly " looking
for, and hastening to, the coming of the day of God," 2 Pet. iii, 12.
According to St. Paul, sinners are converted from the error of their ways,
that they may " sci've the living and true God, and wait for his Son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead," 1 Thess. i, 9, 10. "Looking
for that blessed liope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ," Tit. ii, 13. This second coming of Christ
was the object of this apostle's liighest hopes, after which he represents
himself as groaning with the most fervent desire, Rom. viii, 23. " Yea,
I count all things but loss," continues he, " that I may know hhn, and the
power of his resurrection. Our conversation is in heaven, from whence
also we look for tlie Saviour, who shall change our vile body, that it may
be fashioned like unto his glorious body, accorcUng to the working whereby
he is even able to subdue all things unto himself," Phil, iii, 20, 21.
As God had atibrded believers, under the Old Testament, a perspec-
tive view both of the manifestation of the Redeemer in a mortal body,
and of that dispensation of the Spirit, which he was to open among his
followers under the New Testament ; so he had likewise foretold, by his
prophets, the glorious return of that Saviour to the earth. " Tlie Lord
cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment," Jude 14.
" Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide
the day of liis coming ? And who shall stand when he appeai-eth ? For
he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap," Mai. iii, 1, 2.
Mark the terms in which oiu' Lord himself declared this sublime dis-
pensation. " The love of many shall wax cold. False prophets shall
arise, and ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the
Prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place. Immediately after the tribu-
lation of those days, the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. Then shall all
the tribes of the earth moum, and they shall see the Son of man coming
in the clouds of hea^ en, with power and great gloiy. But of that day
and hour knoweth no man. Watch, therefore ; for ye know not what
hour your Lord doth come," Matt. xxiv. Thus Jesus himself testified
of his second coining ; and his first disciples, in conformity to their Mas-
ter's declaration, addressed a large assembly in the following terms,
tilmost immediately after his ascension : " Repent ye, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord ; and he shall send Jesus, Mhich
before was jneached unto you ; whom the heavens must receive, until
the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth
of all his holy prophets, since the world began," Acts iii, 19-21.
So long as a minister embraces these different promises ; so long as,
with a lively faith, which is " the evidence of things not seen," he believes
that the Father sent his Son for the redemption of sinners, and his Holy
Spirit for the sanctification of believers, — so long as, with a faith which
is " the substance of things hoped for," he believes that Christ shall one
day return for the glorification of his saints ; so long he is saved by that
faith and hope which enable him to preach the Gospel in all its jjj^on-
drous extent : so long he not only compreliends but experiences the power
of that Gospel in his owii soul, while he labours to make it manifest before
tlie world, by his public discourses, and by the whole tenor of his conduct.
170 THE rORTHAIT OF ST. PATL,
The true minisler shulies the different dispensations, in order to qualify
himself for the discharge of every part of his duty.
The pastor who is ill insiructed in the mysteries of our holy reUgion,
loses himself, and leads his sheep astray. The good pastor, on the con-
trary, having found out the way to everlasting life, presses forward
therein at the l^^ad of his tlock, and exhorts every heedless wanderer to
follow his steps. He is conscious, not only that he has a mixture of
sheep and goats in his fold, but he knows that, among the former, there
are some to whose spiritual condition the sincere milk of the word is
much better adapted than stronger food. To all of these he studies to
address himself in a suitable manner. To those who are dead in tres-
passes and sin, equally destitute both of love and fear, he pr-^claims the
first principles of the Gospel, such as " repentance from dead works, faith
toward God, and an eternal judgment," Heb. vi, 1, 2. Those who had
already awakened from the delusions of sin, he anxiously leads into the
paths of grace ; and endeavours to conduct those to evangelical perfec-
tion, who have felt the jiowers of the world to come, verse 6. He easily
distinguishes the mixed multitude of his hearers into a variety of classes.
The unbelieving and the impenitent, who are to be considered as without
God and without hope in the world, are such as go on, without any
symptom of fear, toward the gulf of perdition ; whether it be by the high
road of vice, with the notoriously abandoned, or through the by-path of
hypocrisy, with Pharisaical professors. Converted sinners, or believers,
are either imder the dispensation of the Father, under that of the Son,
or under that of the Holy Ghost, according to the difierent progress they
have made in spiritual things. And the faithful pastor is as perfectly
acquainted with their various attainments, as a diligent tutor is acquainted
with the different abilities of his several pupils.
Believers, under the dispensation of the Father, are ordinarily sur-
rounded with a night of uncertainty and doubt, though visited, at times,
with a few scattered rays of hope. Under the dispensation of his Son,
the doubts of believers are dissipated, like those of the two disciples who
journeyed to Emmaus, while they discover moi'e clearly, and experience
more powerfully, the truths of the Gospel. But under the dispensation
of the. Spirit, they "walk in the light," 1 John i, 7, and are led into all
truth by " the Spirit of truth," John xvi, 13 ; " the anointing which they
have received abideth in them, and teacheth them of all things" neces-
sary to salvation, 1 John ii, 27.
A father of the Church, paraphrasing upon those words of the apostle,
*' Lord, save us ; we perish," apostrophizes thus with the doubtmg disci-
pies: " You have your Saviour with you, what danger can you fear?
We are yet, they reply, but children, and have attained but to a small
degree of strength : hence wc are afraid. The descent of the Holy Spirit,
that Divine protector Avhich has been graciously promised, has not yet
filled us with full assurance. This has been the cause of our unsteadi-
ness hitherto : and hence the Saviour so frequently reproaches us with
the^eakness of our faith." (Origen Horn. Matt, viii, 23-28.) Now all
those Christians, who have not yet received the spiritual baptism so fre-
quently mentioned in the New Testament, are shut up in this state of
weakness and doubt. But so soon as they are liorn of the Spirit, they
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 171
cry out no longer with trembling fear, " Save us ; we perish !" But they
cry out, in transports of gratitude, " God, according to his mercy, hath
saved us, by tiie washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which he hath shed on us abmidantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour,"
Tit. iii, 5, 6. ^ ' •
Under the dispensation of the Father, believers constantly experience
the fear of God, and, in general, a much gi'eater degree of fear than
love. Under the economy of the feon, love begins to gain ascendancy
over fear. But under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, '- perfect love
casteth out fear," 1 John vi, 18 ; because it is the peculiar office of the
Comtbrter to deli^•er the soul from every thing that is liable to distress
and torment it.
Under the economy of the Father, the behever is frequently heard to
exclaim, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death ?" Rom. vii, 24. Under that of the Son, he grate-
fully cries out, " I thank God," who hath eflectually wrought this de-
liverance, " through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vii, 25. But under
the perfect Gospel, which is the dispensation of the Spirit, all believers
are enabled to say with one voice, " We have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear ; but we have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father ! The Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirit, that we are the children of God, and joint heirs with Christ,"
Rom. viii, 15-17.
St. Paul thus distinguishes the different states of advancement in the
Christian faith. " The heir, as long as he is a child, [and such is the
case with believers, under the dispensation of the Father,] ditlereth
nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all ; but is under tutors
and governors till the time appointed of his father. Even so we were
once in a state of bondage ; but when the fulness of time was come,
God sent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Fa-
ther. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son,
then an heir of God, through Christ," Gal. iv, 1-7, " by whom we
have access into this grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God,"
Rom. V, 2.
Our Lord himself evidently pointed out the progressive state of the
Church, when, turning to his disciples, he said, " Blessed are the eyes
which see the things that ye see : for I tell you, that many prophets and
kings have desired to see those tilings which ye see, and have not seen
them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard
them," Luke x, 23, 24. Nevertheless, when their gracious Master
held this language, he was at that time neither glorified nor crucified :
and it is well known that the glory of the Gospel was to follow his suf-
ferings and his triumph.
The same subject is treated by St. Peter in his first epistle, where he
speaks of that fidl salvation which is to be considered as the end or
recompense of faith, 1 Pet. i, 9. " Of which salvation," saith ho, "the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the
grace that should come unto you : searching what, or w hat manner
of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it
172 THE PORTHAIT OF ST. PAUL.
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that slionid
follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto
us, they did minister the things wliich are now reported unto you, by
them that have preached the Gospel imto you, with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into,"
1 Pet. i, 10-12. " Happy are ye ! for the Spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you," 1 Pet. iv, 14.^ "Ye are a chosen generation, a
peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light," 1 Pet. ii, 9.
Without an experimental knowledge of these several states, a minister
can no more lead sinners to evangelical perfection, than an illiterate
peasant can communicate sufficient intelligence to his rustic companions,
to pass an examination for the highest degree in a university.
It may here be necessary to mark out the grand truths by which these
dispensations are severally characterized.
The common language under, the dispensation of the Father is as
lx)llows : " God hath made of one blood all nations of men, and hath
appointed the bounds of their habitation ; that they should seek the Lord,
if haply they miglit feel after him and find him, though he be not far
from every one of us," Acts xvii, 26, 27. " The grace of God that
bringeth salvation, hath appeared [in different degrees] to all men,"
Tit. ii, 11. "For the living God is the Saviour of all men, especially
of those that believe," 1 Tim. iv, 10. " God is no respecter of persons ;
but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is
accepted with him," Acts x, 34, 35. " Without faith it is impossible to
please him : for he that cometh unto God must believe that he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," Hob. xi, 6.
" He hath showed thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth the Lord
require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God ?" Micah vi, 8.
Observe tlie language of the Son's dispensation, " Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. I bring you ggod
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people : for unto you is born
this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,"
Luke ii, 10-14. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i, 17,
" who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to
light through the Gospel," 2 Tim. i, 10. " Tlie hour cometh and now .
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in
truth," John iv, 23. " Ye believe in God, believe also in me," John
xiv, 1. "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,"
John viii, 36. " This is the work of God, that ye beheve on him whom
he hath sent. No man can come unto me, except the Father, which
hath sent me, draw him : and every man that hath heard, and hath
learned of the Father, cometh unto me," John vi, 29, 44, 45. " He
that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life : and he that believeth
not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him,"
John ui, 36.
The dispensation of the Spirit is again distinguished by the following
peculiar language : " This is that which was spoken by the Prophet
Joel : In the lasf days, [or under the last dispensations of my grace,]
.saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, upon my servants,
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL. 173
and upon my handmaidens : and they shall prophesy. Jesus, being by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this [plenitude of grace, the
eflects of] which you now see and hear. Repent, therefore, and be
baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remis-
sion of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is
unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call," Acts ii, 16, 39.
If at any time it is to be apprehended that believers are still carnal,
and unrenewed by the Spirit of God, the pastor who is conversant with
these different economies of grace, inquires with St. Paul, " Have ye
received the Holy Ghost since ye behoved?" Acts xix, 2. When
others among his flock demonstrate, both by their conversation and
conduct, that they are influenced by the Spirit of Christ, he exhorts them
in a manner suitable to the glorious dispensation under which they live.
" Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God. Your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost ; theretbre glorify God in your body and your spirit, which
are God's," 1 Cor. vi, 11, 20. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed imlo the day of redemption," Eph. iv, 30. " Be
filled with the Spirit ; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and
spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts unto the Lord," v, 18, 19.
" Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give
thanks," 1 Thess. v, 16-18.
Tliis language is too elevated for natural men, who understand it no
more than illiterate persons comprehend the most abstruse parts of
science. Hence it is necessary that the faithful minister should acquaint
himself with the diflbrent conditions and capacities of all his hearers, if
he would happily accommodate spiritual things to spiritual men. AVithout
this knowledge, he will, imder every dispensation, run the hazard of
refusing to advanced Christiiuis the solid nourishment they need, and of
presenting to tlie natural mau that celestial manna which- liis very soul
abhors.
77te different dispeiisaltons are produced hy that lovely variety with which
the Almighty is pleased to distrifniie his favotirs.
If the light of the Gospel had been due from God to every individual
sinner ; if he had not been left entirely free, in every sense of the word,
to impart it to whom, at what time, and in what degree soever was most
pleasing to himself; his im[)artial justice would then have engaged him
equally to illuminate all mankind, and he must have caused the Sun of
righteousness, immediately after the fall, to have shone out in its mori-
dian brightness. In such case, there would have been but one dispen-
sation ot" grace ; and the light of the Gospel would not have proceeded
to its highest glory l)y such just gradations as are observable in all the
productions of nature.
Hut the Almighty has proceeded in the work of our redemption, ac-
cording^ the dictates of his own imerring wisdom, and not upon the
plans of^ur pretended sagey. The day of the Gospel, wliether it be
174 TU£ PORTIUVIT OF ST. PAUL.
considered as enlightening the world in general, or the heart in particu-
lar, rises, hke the natural day, from one degree ol" brightness to another,
till all its glories are fully manifested.
The confusion which many divines have spread over this part of
theology, makes it necessary to go into particulars, that we may place
in a just point of view, both the gradations and the harmony of those
three dispensations, which collectively fonn the glorious Gospel of God.
If some naturahsts were determined to confine their observations upon
the rainbow, to those hnes in it that are manifestly red : if naturahsts of
another class were as obstinate in contemplating those of an orange hue ;
and if others were as resolutely bent m singlmg out those of a blue
colour, they would contradict and dispute with each other in as ridiculous
a manner as many ignorant worsloippers of the triune God are observed
to do at tliis day. Thus Deists dispute for the honour of God the
Creator ; and while some Christians pay all their homage to God the
Redeemer, others are as wholly taken up with God the Sanctifier.
Amid all the confusion of these jarring sentiments, the prudent pastor
admits, in their proper place, the various dispensations of evangelical
light, conducting his followers from faith to faith, till he beholds them
illuminated with all the truths, and experiencing all the power of the
Christian religion.
We acknowledge that God is just, though the light of the natural sun
approaches us only in a gradual manner, producing a constant variety
both in our days and seasons. We do not accuse the Supreme Being
of injustice, because he is not pleased to bring the fruits of the earth,
in an instant, to their highest maturity ; or because the same species of
fruit, which is esteemed for its delicious flavour in one climate, is found
worthless and insipid in another. And if the Sovereign of the world is
not expected to ripen, on a sudden, either the reason of individuals or
the Imowledge of nations, it should not be matter of surprise to observe
him acting in his usual manner, with respect to things of a spiritual
nature. His plans are all equally wise : but it is impossible for man to
form a perfect judgment of them, unless the creature could stand for a
moment in the place of the Creator, and take one comprehensive view
of earth and heaven, time and eternity. If " one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years," when he is pleased, in an 'unexpected maimer, to
fulfil his grand designs ; " and a thousand yefu's as one day," 2 Pet.
iii, 8, when he sees good to accomplish his purposes in a more gradual
way ; why should it so strangely afflict and amaze us, that he has lefl
the human race m a state of suspense, with regard to his unsearchable
counsels, for near six thousand years ? The time is coming when he
will discover to us that stupendous plan, which, in our present circum-
stances, we contemplate with every disadvantage ; and just as an
animalcule, whose hfe is limited to six hours, would contemplate the plan
of an immense palace, which a skilful architect had jiromised to com-
plete in as many years. Supposing such an insect, endued with reason,
and coming into existence during he night, should blindly crawl among
the loose materials of which the intended edifice was to be constructed ;
what opinion could it form either of the architect or his plan? Would
not this insigaiiicant creature be led to judge of these matters ^ the pre-
tended philosopher inconsiderately jvidges of that mysterious plan upon
THE POKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
i^r
which the Almighty is erecting the temple of trutii, and creating an
incorruptible world ? It' tlie Creator thought it necessary to employ six
days in completing the beauties of the material world ; and if the Re-
deemer judges it expedient progressively to perfect the more lasting
beauties of a spiritual world, during six of his more ample days ; how
little reason have we to despise the comprehensive design ; especially
when we consider six thousand years are far more inconsiderable in
comparison with eternity, than six atoms in comparison with this ter-
restrial globe !
Now, if such a plan is not only reasonable, but has been evidently
adopted by Him who " giveth not account of any of his matters," Job
xxxiii, 13 ; it is undoubtedly true, that those who have lived in different
periods of time, have not been permitted to enjoy all the various truflis
which God has successively revealed to man. Nevertheless, it is equally
certain that every man, in what period of time, and in what pecuhar
circumstances soever he found himself placed, has received sufficient
light to discover, as well as sufficient power to perform, what God has
been pleased to require at his hands.
The day of evangelical truth is graciously allowed to all mankind,
that they may thereby be assisted to discover, to love, and to obey their
celestial Parent : and, finally, that they may reach the mark of their
high destination, which is the enjoyment of those different degrees of
blessedness which are reserved for the different classes of the faithful.
Let us consider the morning of this sacred day. When the first man
had extinguished in his heart the light of truth and the fire of charity — ■
when he became sufficiently stupid to think of concealuig himself from
his God among the trees of the garden, and sufficiently impious to throw
the blame of his oflence upon his companion in transgression, instead of
confessing liis disobedience with all its aggravations — it is evident, that
man was then without Christ, that is, without a Saviour, without '%iope,
and without God in the world," Eph. ii, 12. In that night of error and
confusion, and probablv of despair, the promise of a powerful Redeemer
\vas given to our first parents, whence certain beams of hope were pro-
duced, which formed the earliest twilight of the Gospel day.
The tradition of this gracious promise, which was made to Adam and
confirmed to Noah : the natural law, which is nothing less than the
remains of the Creator's image in the human heart ; and the secret
grace of the Redeemer, which is more or less operative in every man ;
these collectively formed that evangelical dawn, which was for a long
time universally experienced in the world, and which may with propri(;ty
be tenned, either Gentilism, the religion of the first patriarch, the Gospel
of the heathen, or the dispensation of the Father. In this low dispen-
sation, and under these faint ghmmerings of truth, the generality of
mankind are still unhappily observed to live. And though clouds of
prejudice, together with vain tradition, deprive Pagan nations, in part, of
tliis inesfimable hght, yet sufficient remains among them for the direc-
tion of those who are seeking after the light of a less obscure dispen-
sation.
When mankind had become almost universally unfaithful to the grace
of Gentilism, and unmindful of the past vengeance of God in destroying
the world ; when they had plunged themselves into the most impious
ije
6 THE I'OKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
excesses, and were wholly given up to the greatest idolatry; at that
time the Almighty resolved to sepai-ate from the corrupted nations a
single people, who should preserve among them the Divine worship in
its purity ; a people, among whom the Messiah should be born, and who
should spread around them both the expectation and the promise of so
wonderful a Deliverer. Moses, Aaron, and Joshua, were the represent-
atives of this extraordinary Person. Moses, as a prophet and legisla-
tor ; Aaron, as a high priest appointed of God ; and Joshua, as an
illustrious conqueror, dividing the kingdoms of Canaiin among those who
had followed him through the dangers of a tedious warfare. Thus the
Jews became a preaching people to the rest of the world, preserving in
it the light of the Father's dispensation, and preparing it for the farther
dispensation of the Son : insomuch, that the expectation of a Divine
Restorer was spread over many parts of the earth, as we learn from
two Pagan historians,* whose testimony deserves credit. Nay, the
Sibyls, and even Virgil himself, took occasion, from this general expec-
tation, of applying to Augustus the predictions of a sublime conqueror,
who was to issue from the east, renewing the face of things.
Judaism, then, seems to have been nothing more than the dispensation
of the Father, though undoubtedly more luminous than it had formerly
appeared before the calling of Abraham. The moral law, given by
Moses, was but a new edition of the natural law, which had been given
long before, and the ceremonial law was added thereto, as a farther con-
firmation of the original promise. This was, however, a remarkable
advance toward the dispensation of the Son and that of the Holy Ghost,
since the mysteries of both were shadowed forth by the interior parts
of the temple, by sacrifices, by ablutions, by anointings, by perfumes,
by burning lamps, and sacred fires.
Tli^ universal creed, under this ancient dispensation, still forms a part
of th^ which is received among Christians. And there is no true wor-
shipper under this economy but who can say, with sincerity, " I believe
ih (iod, the Father Ahnighty, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and
earth, the Avenger of sin, and the Rewarder of those who faithfully
serve him. And I trust the time is coming when some Divine instmcter
will enable me more fully to know and obey this incomprehensible
Father of the universe." May such an instructor soon appear! was
the united prayers of Socrates and Plato. " Cet him hasten his
coming," says the true Jew, and the pious Tlieist, " under whatever
appellation he may choose to appear. Let him be called the Seed of
the woman, the Seed of Abraham, or the Son of David ; let his name
be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Logos, Emmanuel, Joshua, Jesus,
Saviour ; or only the Prophet, the Angel of the Covenant, or the Mes-
scnger of God ; it is of little consequence. If he bring but life and im-
mortality to light, I will receive him with gratitiide and joy." Such is
the failh l)y which those Jews, Mohammedans, and Pagans, whose hearts
are principled with humility, candour, and the fear of God, have been,
and still continue to be, saved in every part of the world. For the
* Pcrcrebucrat Orientc toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis ut Judea
profecti rcruin potirentur. — Suetonius.
Pluribus pcrsuasio incrat, antiquis sacerdotum libris contineri co ipso temporo
fore, ut valescerct Oricns, profcctique Judea rerum potirentur. — Tacitus.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 177
Father of meicics, who knoweth whereof we are made, will no more
absolutely condemn such worshippers, on account of the extraordinary
respect they have discovered for Moses, Mohammed, and Confucius,
than he will finally reject eome pious Christians, for the sake of that
excessive veneration which they manifest for particular saints and
reformers. Nor will he punish either bccavise their guides have mingled
prejudice with truth, and legendary fables with the doctrines of theology.
As a prudent physician proportions his medicines to the different ages
and habits of his patients, so the enlightened pastor, who feels liimself
concerned for the spiritual health of his flock, sees it necessary to act
with equal care and discretion. He preaches the dispensation of the
Son to those who, like Socrates and Plato, are longing for a Divine
instructer, as well as to those who, like Simeon, Nicodernus, and Cor-
neUus, are waiting for the consolation of Israel. He leads them either
fiom the law of Closes, or from the law of nature, to the Gospel of
Christ ; explaining, with pi'ecision, those parts of the New Testament,
which exhibit the commencement of the Son's dispensation, together
with all he taught and suflered, while he continued upon earth.
Lastly, to such as have devoutly embraced this part of the Gospel, he
publishes the glorious economy of the Holy Spirit, which was not fully
opened till after the bodily appearance of the Redeemer was withdrawn
from the world. Then it was that he descended in the I'ulness of the
Spirit, directing and supporting his disciples, animating and sanctifying
his members, and manil'esting that kingdom of God, that dispensation ot"
righteousness, peace, and joy, wliich is so largely treated of in the Acts
and Epistles of the Apostles.
These three dispensations have one common end. They mutually
tend to manifest the different perfections of the Supreme Being, to raise
man from his present low estate, and to perfect his nature. This three-
fold design is appai'ent under the dispensation of the Father ; it unfolds
itself more clearly under that of the Son ; and shines out with increas-
ing lustre under that of the Holy Spirit. As it is one and the same
sua that- animates every thing ui the natural world, so it is one and the
same God who operates every thing in the kingdom of grace. He,
whom we address as our heavenly Father, in that sacred form of prayer
which is common among Christians, is the very God in whose name the
ancient patriarchs were accustom<^d to bless their children. The Word,
through which we address }um, is no other than that " Light of the
world," by which the antediluvian fathers were illuminated in their seve-
ral generations : and the Holy Ghost, by which the souls of the faith-
ful are divinely regenerated, is the same Spirit that primarily " moved
upon the face of the waters," Gen. i, 2 ; of which also it was said in the
days of Noah, " My Spirit shall notalways strive with man," Gen. vi, 3.
There never was a time in which the Son and the Spirit were not
occupied in completing the salvation of believers. But there was a time
when the Son became manifest upon the earth, making a visible display
of his astonishing labours ; and then it was that his particular dispensa-
tion had its commencement. So likewise there was a time when the
Holy Ghost, more abundantly shed forth by the Father and the Son,
began to work his mysterious operations in a more sensible manner ;
and at that time commenced the particulai" dispensation of tlie Spirit,
Vol. hi. 12
178 THE I'UKTKAIT OF ST. TAUL.
which sei-ves to perfect the dispensation of the Son, as that of the Son
was given to perfect the dispensation of tlie Father.
These distinctions are founded upon reason, upon revelation, and upon
the apostles' creed.
1. Reason suggests, that mankind must for ever remain under the
sovereignty of their omnipotont Creator, and accountable to liim for the
use tliey make of his innumerable favours. Reason farther discovers,
that if man should admit the darkness of error into his understanding,
and the fvtal influence of sin into his will, he carmot possibly recover his
pristine state, except through the manifestation of a new light, and the
exertions of a stronger influence. But who shall produce the former,
except that Saviour who is " the Light of the world," John viii, 12, or
who shall supply the latter, except that energetic Spirit which " helpetli
our infirmities ?" Rom. viii, 26.
2. These distinctions are founded upon revelation. The volume of
truth informs us, that the Creator foretold the coming of a Redeemer,
and that the Redeemer, during his outward manifestation, proclaimed
the near approach of " another Comforter," John xiv, 16, 17. It is un-
doubtedly true, that some earnests of redeeming grace, together with
the first firuits of the Spirit, were experienced even by the most ancient
inliabitants of the earth. It is true, also, that by means of those earnests
and first fruits, many myriads of mankind have been saved in every
age of the world. But it is no less true, that the plenitude of these
sacred gifls was reserved to a very distant period of time ; since, after
the first promise of a Redeemer was given, near four thousand years
elapsed Ijcfore he made his public appearance ; and while he continued upon
earth, it is expressly said, that " the Holy Ghost was not yet given, [in
its fldl measure,] because that Jesus was not yet glorified," Jolm vii, 39.
3. Chrisiians are taught to distinguish these different degrees of
evangelical grace, and to rejoice in all the advantages of these three
dispensations, when they are solemnly baptized in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And this they publicly profess to do, so
often as they repeat the three principal articles of the apostlas' creed.
Happy would it be, if, through the demonstration of tliat Holy Spirit, in
which they affect to believe, they were enabled experimentally to con-
fess their almighty Father and his redeeming Son. Eveiy one of them
might then thankfully add, " I experience the communion of saints and
the forgiveness of sins : I joyfully and confidently expect the resurrection
of the body, and life everlasting."
It is presumed, that no doctrines can come more strongly recom-
mended to the consideration of professing Christians, than those which
are undeniably founded upon reason and revelation, upon that outward
form of baptism and that primitive creed, which are universally received
in the Christian world.
The attentive reader will easily perceive, that the dilTerence between
these several dispensations is foi'med by those different degi'ees in Nvhich
the Redeemer is manifested. Under Gentilism and Judaism, or imder
tlie general and jKirticular cUspensations of the Father, the Redeemer is
both announced and expected ; he is announced by the Father's original
promise, by tradition, by types, by prophecies ; and he is expected as a
Saviour who shall sooner or later make his appearance. Under the
THE I'ORTUAIT OF ST. I'AUL. 179
baptism of John, and under that imperfect Christianity which is received
by a baptism of water, the Redeemer is appreliended, in some measure,
by sense ; or by a faith which merely respects the history of the Gos.
pel : but he is apprehended only as a Saviour manifested in the flesh, to
accomplish the external act of redemption. It is otherwise under that
perfect Christianity to which wc are introduced by the mysterious bap-
tism of the Spirit, in which the Redeemer is manifested after a manner
abimdantly more glorious. He is now received as coming in the Spirit,
after having died for our sins and risen again for our justilication. Now
he performs the spiritual work ol" redemption in the soul, delivermg his
people from the power of sin, by communicating to them the special
efficacy of his death, his resurrection, and his triumph. Henceforth he
is a Comforter, not only with, but in us ; where he spiritually exercises
his acknowledged offices, instructing, purifying, and fuially subduing all
tilings to himself.
Tlie different ■preachers under these different dispensations.
Persuaded that confusion is the source of a thousand errors, the pru-
dent mimster endeavours to place the truths of the Gospel in their proper
order ; and reflecting upon those preachers who have formerly pro-
claimed them, he is enabled to produce something upon their separate
testimonies which may serve to edify the ditTerent classes of his hearers.
Thus St. Paul, when preaching to the Athenians, judged it convenient
to cite one of their own poets rather than Moses ; and thus, in address,
ing those teachers who leave the Gospel in order to set up a vain philo-
sophy, the true mimster may find it necessary to produce the description
which Epictetus has given of a real philosopher.
Every dispensation has had its peculiar preachers, and the pastor who
is led into all truth is anxious to second these preachers, by publishuig,
in their proper place, those sacred truths which they have respectively
delivered according to their different proportions of grace.
The preachers, vmder the dispensation of the Father, are,
1. Tlie tvorks of creation. " The heavens," saith David, " declare the
glory of God, and the finnamcnt showeth his handy work," Psalm xix, 1.
" That which may be Imown of God," adds St. Paul, " is manifest,"
even among the heathen. " For the invisible things of him, from the
creation of the world, are clearly seen, behig understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal po^ver and Godhead : so that they are
without excuse, because that when they knew God, they glorified him
not as God," Rom. i, 19-21.
2. Providence. " Tlic living God," saith the apostle, " who, in times
past, sufiercd all nations to walk in their own ways, left himself not
without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven,
and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and glacbiess," Acts
xiv, 1.5, 17.
3. Those dreadful scourges with which an avenging God is con-
strained to correct a rebellious world; such as famine, pestilence,
war, ^c.
4. Reason; which is a ray from that Divine Word, that Eternal
180 THE I'OKTUAIX OF ST. PAUL.
Logos, that " true Light which lighteneth every man that cometh into
the world."
5. Conscience. " For the Gentiles," saith St. Paul, " which have not
the law, [written by prophets and apostles,] are a law unto themselves ;
their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts accusmg, or else
excusing one imother," Rom. ii, 14, 15.
6. Enoch, Noah, and all the holy patriarchs who Uved before the
flood.
7. All those pious persons who have inculcated the fear of God, and
published the traditionary promise which was given to our first pai'ents.
8. The prophets and priests among the Jews, together with the sacred
poets and true philosophers among the ancient heathens.
9. Those priests who, among Jews, Mohammedans, and modem
Pagans, recommend, with sincerity, holiness and the fear of God.
And, lastly, all those preachers of Christendom, who, blind to the
dispensations of the Son and the Spirit, fall back into Gentilism, deUver-
ing only such moral essays as have been abundantly exceeded by phi-
losophers of old.
As this dispensation has ever had, and still continues to have, its
celebrated preachers ; so it has frequently had, and may yet continue to
have, its confessors and martyrs. If it were possible to come at the
histoiy of all those who have been eminently distinguished by their piety
under this economy, and who have nobly suffered in the cause of godli-
ness, vv8 might probably discover many an Abel, and many a Zacharias,
many an Aristides, and many a Socrates, in every nation under heaven.
In company with these amiable and honom'able characters, the evan-
gelical pastor is constantly observed, so far as they proceed in the high
way of truth ; but he advances far beyond them when he would associate
with the preachers of the Son's dispensation.
The heralds of truth, under this dispensation, are,
1. The priest, Zacharias, A\ho announced the accomplishment of the
promise which was made to the patriarclis, Luke i.
2. The angel who first brought down the tidings of the Messiah's
birth, in company with the multitude of the heavenly host, who attended
him upon that extraordinary occasion.
3. Those Jewish priests, who directed the Magi from Jerusalem to
the city in which Christ was born.
4. Those celestial voices which declared, upon Moimt Tabor and
on the banks of Jordan, that Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father.
5. Jolm the Baptist, who proclaimed Christ come in tlie flesh, and
endeavoured to prepare the penitent for the dispensation of the Spirit.
6. Those seventy disciples who were commissioned by our Lord to
preach the Gospel.
And, lastly, all those teachers of the present day who, like Apollos in
the beginning of his ministry, perceive nothing beyond tliat inferior dis-
pensation, of which an outward baptism is considered as the seaL
Under the dispensation of the Spirit, the preachers are,
1. The apostles, who entered upon their excellent ministry afi^er being
first miraculously endued with power from on high.
2. .AH those ministers of the Gospel who, after receiving into their
own hearts " the Spirit of adoption," llom. viii, 15, proclaim the coming
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 181
of that Spirit lo those who have already experienced " repentance toward
God, and laith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," Acts xx, 21. Such
ministers alone may be said to proclaim the spiritual kingdom of God ;
and these alone can experimentally direct believers to the absolute fulfil-
ment of every Gospel promise. The teachers of this day, instead of
proclaiming the grand promise of Christianity, unhappily renounce that
promise ; imagining that it merely respected the first followers of Jesus,
or, at most, that it was confined to the earliest ages of the Christian
Church. Far from publishing the Gospel in its abundant plenitude,
these unskilful evangelists arc not able to preach all that imperfect Gos-
pel which in Scripture language is called " the baptism of John," Acts
xviii, 25. John publicly announced the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and
far from despising such baptism himself, he openly declared that he had
" need to be baptized of Christ," Matt, iii, 14. Nevertheless, John was
put to death before the promise of the Father was fully accomplished ;
and on this account our Lord declai'ed that the " least in the kingdom
of heaven, [that is, the lowest und^' the dispensation of the Spirit, should
be accounted] greater than he," Matt, x, 11. Yea, even the soldiers
of Cornelius, after the Spirit had descended upon them, were assisted to
pubUsh the mysteries of that kingdom with greater clearness, and with a
more lively conviction, than the forerunner of Jesus had ever done.
That prophet doubted before his death, as well as all the apostles be-
fore the day of pentecost. But under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit,
the great truths of the Gospel are demonstrated by the power of an inter-
nal evidence, which leaves in the heart no more room for doubt than a
mathematical demonstration leaves room for hesitation in the mind.
Farther : John the Baptist barely intimated the necessity of a spiritual
baptism : but the most illiterate among the centurion's servants could
say, " Christ has baptized me with the Holy Ghost and with fire ; and
the promise, which he hath already fulfilled to me, who am a poor Gen-
tile, he will as gloriously accomplish in favour of others, since the promise
is given ' to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God
shall call,' " Acts ii, 39. Thus, under this sublime dispensation, every
faithful sei*vant of the Lord is enabled to prophesy out of the fulness of
liis heart, and to speak the wonderful works of God. Thus also, every
zealous minister, persevering in his pursuit after evangchcal tnith, be-
comes, at length, of the same society with those who were the first and
most effectual preachers of the everlasting Gospel.
Tlie dispensaiion of the Holy Spirit is 7iow in force, and the minister who
preaclies this dispensation cannot justly he esteemed an enlhusiast.
To reject the Son of God manifested in the Spirit, as worldly Chris-
tians are universally observed to do, is a crime of equal magnitude with
that of the Jews, who rejected Christ manifested in the flesh. Never-
theless, in vain has the Apostle Paul informed us, that " Jesus Christ is
a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec," Heb. vii, 17; "the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," Heb. xiii, 8. In vain has John
the Baptist declared, that " he shall baptize us with the Holy Ghost and
with fire," Matt, iii, 11. In vain has Christ liimself made a gracious
182 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
offer of this baptism to all nations, Matt, xxviii, 19. In spite of all these
declarations, our incredulity still seeks out some plausible reason for
rejecting the dispensation of the Spirit.
So long as those perilous times shall continue which were foretold by
St. Paul, 2 Tim. iii, 1, so long we may expect to behold multitudes of
erring professors, who, like the ancient Pharisees, not only refuse to
enter into the kingdom of God themselves, but resolutely withstand all
those who are striving to enter in. These faithless Christians, resem-
bling the timorous spies of old, are constantly prepared to discourage
every persevering Israelite, by raising evil reports of their promised
rest. Attached to tliis present degenerate world, as the wife of Lot was
attached to her polluted city, they are ever insinuating, that there is little
danger to be apjirehended in theu' present situation. And as for that full
dispensation of the Spirit, concerning which so many excellent things are
spoken, they confidently assert, that it cannot be expected in the present
time, without giving way to the highest presumption and folly. On these
accounts it becomes absolutely necessary that the true minister should
stand i)repared to give every man a solid answer, " that asketh a reason
of the hope that is in him," 1 Pet. iii, 15.
That the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were peculiarly neces-
sarj' to the apostles, and that they were actually put in possession of such
gifts, we readily allow. But, at the same time, we consider those gifts
as entirely distinct from the Spirit itself. When the Spirit of grace takes
the full possession of a particular person, he may, if the edification of the
Church requires it, bestow upon that person some extraordinary gift in
an instantaneous manner : as the prince, who honours any subject with
an important commission, invests him with sufficient power for the exe-
cution of such commission. But the presents of a prince do not always
demonstrate his actual presence ; since it is very possible for a prince to
lodge with one of his subjects, upon whom he has conferred no inesti-
mable favour, while he makes a magnificent present to another, whom
he has never condescended to visit in person. Thus the Holy Spirit de-
scended upon Mary the mother of Jesus, together with several other holy
women, as well as upon the apostles, with whom they continued in earnest
supplication and prayer : nevertheless, it does not appear that any one
of them received even the gift of tongues. On the other hand, we are
well assured, that many persons, who never received the Spirit of holi-
ness, were yet outwardly distinguished by several extraordinary gifts of
the Holy Ghost. The first king of Israel gave rise to that memorable
proverb, " Is Saul also among the prophets?" 1 Sam. x, 12. Jonah,
though he possessed neither the faith nor the charity which are common
to many Christians of this age, was yet commissioned to visit Nineveh
with an extraordinary message from heaven. And we are informed that
.ludas was endued with the power of performing miracles, as Balaam had
before been honoured with the gift of prophecy. But, notwithstanding
these external a})pcarances, we may rest assured, that neitl>er Saul, nor
Balaam, nor Judas, had fully experienced that happy estate which the
meanest among the primitive Christians was permitted to «njoy. When,
therefore, we assert, that eveiy sincere believer becomes a " temple of
the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. vi, 19 ; it is not to be understood by such ex-
pression, that they have received the power of working miracles : since
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 183
in this sense St. Paul himself was not always replenished with the
Spirit. But it should rather be understood, that the same Spirit of hu-
mility, of zeal, of faith, and of charity, wliich so eminently dwelt in
Cluist, continually Hows from him to the meanest of his spiritual mem-
bers, as the sap is known to pass from the trunk of a vine into the least
of its branches, John xv, 5.
The Old and New Tfestament sufficiently prove, that the special influ-
ences of the Spirit are to be imiversally experienced by the faithful in
every age. Isaiah promises this invaluable blessing to those who are
athirst for God, Isaiah xliv, 3. Ezekiel announces the same blessing, in
a variety of passages, to all those who enjoy the privileges of the new
covenant. The Prophet Joel more directly promises the extraordinary
effiision of the Holy Spirit, to " the young and the old [among the people
of God ; to] their sons and tlieir daughters, their sei*vants and their hand-
maids," Joel ii, 28, 39. John the Baptist expressly repeats the same
promise to all those who partake of his inferior baptism, Luke iii, 16.
Our Lord invites every believer freely to come and receive the long-ex-
pected blessing, Jolm vii, 37, 39. St. Peter unreservedly oflers it to the
truly penitent, Acts ii, 38 ; and St. Paul every where declares that it is
the common privilege of Christians to " be filled with the Spirit," Eph.
v, 18 ; 1 Cor. vi, 19. Nay, he even intimates, that the name of Chris-
tian should be refused to those who have not received the promise of the
Father, Rom. viii, 9. These few passages abundantly testify, how
strangely those professors deceive themselves, who confidently affirm
that the Holy Spnit was promised to the apostles alone.
Revelation is no sooner admitted, but reason itself confirms the very
truth for which we contend. Why was the Holy Spirit to be poured out
in its full measure upon the first followers of Christ ? If in order to their
sanctification ; have we less need of holiness than the apostles had ? If
it was to shed abroad in their hearts the love of God ; is that love less
necessary for us than for them ? If to make intercession for them with
groanings which cannot be uttered ; were the apostles supposed to stand
in greater need of such mtercession than all other men ? Lastly, if the
Holy Ghost was given, that beUevers might be enabled to ciy out,
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, per-
secution, or death ? O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is
thy victory ? Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through
our Lord Jesus Christ," — if so, then it should seem, that the apostles
alone were called to suffer and die in a manner so perfectly worthy of
Christians.
The more we meditate upon the Scriptures of truth, the more we shall
be convhiced that the experience of real Christians, and the reason of
natural men, coincide with that sacred volume, in demonstrating that the
grand promise of a Comforter must respect every sincere beUever, as
well as the first disciples of Jesus. To reject, then, this precious gift,
is to trample under foot the pearl of great price, and to despise the Re-
deemer himself in that spiritual appearance, which is of far greater im-
portance to us than his outward manifestation in Judea. Farther : to in-
sinuate among ChrisUans, that. the promise of Christ's spiritual coming
is no longer in force, is to enervate the glorious Gospel of God, and to
maintain in his Church that detestable lukewarmness, which will ulti-
184 THE rORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
mately prove the ground of its condemnation. It is to surpass tlie Jews
in their obstinate rejection of our only Lord and Saviour. There was
no need, says the incredulous Jew, that the Messiah should sutler and
die for our sins : nor is there any need, says the carnal Christian, that
the Saviour should come in a spiritual manner to reign in my heart.
The one destroys the body, the other the soul, of Christianity ; and both
are equally strangers to the renovating power of the Gospel.
The true minister, struck with the magnitude of this sin, so general in
the present day, incessantly labours for the restoration of those who are
deeply plunged in so destructive an error.
The. evcmgelical pastor defends the dispensation of the Spirit against
all opposers.
Whatever dispensation of grace the true minister announces, he is
constrained, with St. Paul, to brandish his spiritual weapons on the right
hand and on the left. If he publishes the dispensation of the Father, he
finds it necessary to defend its important tniths against the daringly pro-
fane on the one hand, and on the other against the vainly superstitious.
When he preaches the dispensation of the Son, he has still greater occa-
sion to arm himself, in every part, in defence of the doctrine he inain-
tains. On the left hand he is attacked either by Deists, who wholly dis-
claim all ideas of a Saviour ; or by Socinians, who despoil that Saviour
of his greatest glory; and on the right he is assailed by ill-instructed
Christians, who, under pretence of exalting the Son, look down with
contempt upon the dispensation of the Father ; not considering that by
this error they oppose one principal design of Christ's appearing, which
was, that we might worship the Father in spirit and in truth. But it is
chiefly with respect to the third dispensation that the Christian preacher
is constrained to wield, without ceasing, that " sword of the Spirit," and
that " shield of faith," Eph. vi, 16, 17, with which St. Paul was so
anxious to see every Christian armed. As this doctrine is abundantly
more elevated than the preceding dispensations, so it stands more ex-
posed to the shafts of innumerable enemies. On the left it is incessantly
attacked by carnal professors, and on the right by fanatical zealots.
These two classes of adversaries, though continually at war with each
other, unhappily agree in opposing, either directly or indirectly, the pro-
gress of this glorious dispensation, obliging the faithful minister with
equal intrepidity to combat both.
Observe the grand argument with which carnal Christians carry on
this opposition. " The Comforter," say they, " which was graciously
promised to our Lord's first disciples, was undoubtedly received by those
ijighly-favoured missionaries, and conducted them into ail the truths of
the Gospel. From this Divine Spirit they received continual assistance in
spreading that Gospel, and by him they were endued with those miracu-
lous gifts which served as so many incontestable marks of their sacred
mission. But as Christianity is at this time firmly established in the
world, the letter of the Holy Scriptures is now abundantly sutFicient for
every purpose ; and there is no longer any necessity for that baptism
THE PPRTRAIT OF ST. PAFL. 185
and illumination of the Spirit, which were evidently requisite among the
primitive Christians."
As the mistaken Jews, perfectly satisfied with the law of Moses, in-
scribed upon tables of stone, rejected, with obstinacy, the promised Mes-
siah : so these carnal Christians, contented with the letter of the New
Testament, perversely reject the " Holy Spirit of promise," Eph. i, 13.
" Search the Scriptures ; for they testify of me," John v, 39, was our
Lord's exhortation to these deluded formalists. And the true minister
continues to press the same exhortation upon those who blindly oppose
the coming of Christ's spiritual kingdom. He is anxious, with his hea-
venly Master, to put the matter upon this issue ; fully conscious, that
they who peruse those sacred pages with an unprejudiced mind, must
readily observe, that, instead of superseding the necessity of a spiritual
baptism, they give ample testimony that such baptism is to be considered
as a privilege freely otlcred to the whole multitude of believers.
When Christians affirm that the manifestation of the Spirit is no longer
to be sought after, except in that mysterious volume which promises this
manifestation to the Church ; modern Jews might as well declare that
they look for no other manifestation of their Messiah, than that Vvhich is
to be found in those books of Moses and the prophets, where the commg
of that Messiah is repeatedly promised. But if it be said, " The Spirit
of Christ was fully given to his first disciples, and that is sufficient for
us ;" this ai'gument has in it as great absurdity as the following method
of reasoning : " Moses instructs us, that God created the sun, and that
the patriarchs were happily enlightened by it : but the supreme ilhuni-
nation of that sun is no longer to be discovered, except iii the writings
of Moses ; and those labourers are downright enthusiasts, who imagine
they need any other fays from that luminaiy, except such as are reflected
upon them from the book of Genesis. The Scripture informs us, that
God commanded the earth to produce a variety of fruits and plants for
the nourishment of its inhabitants ; covenanting, on his part, to send re-
freshing rains and convenient seasons. " But we do not live," exclaims
a rational farmer, " in the season of miracles, nor am I enthusiastic
enough to expect that rain shall be sent upon the earth. Mention in-
deed is made, in ancient history, of the former and the latter rain ; and
the books which speak of these fructifying showers, and promise a con-
tinuance of them to the latest posterity, are undoubtedly authentic:
nevertheless, all the rain we can now reasonably expect, must flow from
these books alone, and from those speculations which our reason can
make upon the truths they contain." Who will not smile at such a
method of reasoning as this?
In those things which respect our temporal interests, we are not stupid
eiiough to be deluded by such wretched sophisms, though we frequently
deceive both ourselves and others, with regard to spiritual things, by
arguments no less palpably absurd. " God," says the orthodox pro-
fessor, " undoubtedly caused the Sun of righteousness so effectually to
shine u|x>n believers, on the day of pentecost, that they were instanta-
neously baptized " with the Holy Ghost and with fire." A celestial
shower, at that time, refreshed the Church ; and the mystic vine, ma-
tured on a sudden, by the direct rays of so glorious a hmiinary, was
assisted to produce, internally, all the graces, and, externally, all the
186 THK PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
fruits of the Spirit. But such extraordinary phenomena, which acconi-
panied that dazzhng sun, and those gracious showers, have long eigo
disappeared. Nay, that sun itself is totally eclipsed", with respect to us ;
and tiie book, which bears tcstunony to the constant influence of that
sun, and the endless duration of those showers, now absolutely stands in
the place of both." Ridiculous divinity ! And shall they be called en-
thusiasts who oppose such absurdities as these ? Then fanaticism may
be said to consist in making a rational distinction between the pearl of
great price and the testament that bequeaths it ; between that sacred
volume, in which the Comforter is merely promised, and the actual pre-
sence of that Comforter in the heart. To pretend that we have no longer
any need of the Spirit of Christ, because we are in possession of an
incomparable book, which declares, that " if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his," Rom. viii, 9, is not this to destroy, at once,
both the letter and spirit of the Gospel ? And when we see those Chris-
tians who profess the utmost respect for revelation, deriding, without fear,
the manifestation of that Spirit, by which alone •' the love of God [can
be] shed abroad in our hearts," Rom. v, 5, what judgment can we form
of such persons, but that they are disposed to treat the Gospel of our
glorified Master as Judas once treated its persecuted Author ? Whatever
air of devotion they may assume, while they salute the exterior of it,
their secret intention is to betray the very life of the Gospel to derision
and infamy. By arguments of this nature it is that Christian ministers
are frequently obliged to defend the dispensation of the Spirit from the
outrageous attacks of carnally-minded Christians.
But there are times in which the faithful pastor finds it equally neces-
sary to defend this part of his doctrine against high and fanatical pro-
fessors. In every Christian country there are not wanting such as have
rendered the dispensation of that Spirit contemptible, by their ridiculous
and impious pretensions. Protestants have blushed for the prophets of
Cevennes, and Catholics for the Conxiilsionaries of Paris. In order
successfully to oppose the progress of enthusiasm, he publicly contrasts
the two different characters of a presumptuous fanatic and an enlightened
Christian, in some such terms as follow. The one extinguishes the torch
of reason, that he may have opportunity to display, in its room, the vain
flashes of liis own pretended inspirations ; the other entertains a just
respect for reason, following it as the surest guide, so far as it is able to
direct him in the search of truth ; and whenever he implores a superior
light, it is merely to supply the defects of reason. The one destroys the
clear sense of Scripture language, that a way may be made for his own
particular manifestations : the other refers every thmg "to the law, and
to the testimony," fully satisfied, that if high pretenders to sanctity " speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isa.
viii, 20. The former flatters liimself, that while the means are neglected,
the end may be obtained, presuming that God will ilhnninate him in a
miraculous manner, without the help of prayer, study, meditations, ser-
mons, or sacraments. The latter unpresumingly expects the succours
of grace, in a constant use of the appointed means ; and, conscious that
^^ the Holy Scriptures are able to make him wise unto salvation," 2 Tim.
iii, 15, he takes them for the subject of his frequent meditation, the ground
of his prayers, and the grand rule of his conduct. The fanatic imagines
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 187
liimself independent of superior powers both in Churcli and state. The
real Christian, a constant friend to truth and order, looking upon himself
as the servant of all, not only acknowledges the respect due to his supe-
riors, but is ready to give them an accoimt either of his faith or his
conduct, with meekness and submission ; and anxious to have his prin-
ciples supported by appeals to the reason and conscience of his adver-
saries, as well as by the testimony of revelation. The fanatic pays but
little regard to the inestimable grace of charity. Like Simon, the sor-
cerer, he aspires after the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and, seduced
by a vain imagination, forsakes the substance that he may pursue the
shadow. The true Christian, without despising the most inconsiderable
spiritual gifts, im|>lores only those w.hich may assist him in the discharge
of his several duties, and peculiarly that of charity, which is to be I'anked
as high above the performance of miracles, as miracles are to be esteemed
above the tricks of Jugglers. The fanatic conceives himself to be ani-
mated by the Spirit of Cod, when his body is agitated by a rapid motion
of the animal spirits, excited by the sallies of an overheated imagination,
and augmented by hysterical or ijypochondriacal vapours. The judicious
Christian detests this enthusiasm, which, covering religion with a veil of
delusion and frenz}-, renders it contemptible in the eyes of those who are
ever ready to treat devotion as fanaticism.
When the true minister unhappily falls among persons who evidence
a disposition to enthusiasm, carrying mortification to an unwarrantable
excess, publicly uttering long and passionate prayers, produced with the
most violent eifiirts, he calls their attention to that beautifiil passage in
the history of Elijali, where God is represented as manifesting himself,
neither in the wind, the earthquake, nor the fire ; but in a still small voice.
To inspire them with a just horror for this kind of fanaticism, he points
them to those contemptible characters whose conduct they are unwit-
tingly copyuig, and exhorts them to leave the horrible custom of " crjing
with a loud voice," together with every other species of religious extra-
vagance, to the superstitious priests of Baal.. If it be necessary, he even
applies those sarcastic expressions of Elijah, " Cry aloud," &c. In per-
forming this part of his duty, he is anxious, however, to act with the
utmost discretion ; not ridiculing the fanatical with an irreverent light-
ness, but exhorting them with all possible aflcction and solemnity. It
appears, from the writings of St. Paul, that enthusiasm had once risen
to so great a height in the Corinthian Church, that the communion was
polluted by the members of that Church, and its public ordinances thrown
into the utmost disorder. Now, if the apostle had himself been an enthu-
siast, he would have seen these disorders without regret ; or had he been
like the ministers of the present day, he would have rejoiced at the pre-
text aflfbrded him by the fanatical Corinthians, for turning into ridicule
devotion and zeal, the power of prayer, and the gift of exliortation. But,
equally attached both to order and zeal, he wrote to them in the f(-»llow-
ing terms: " I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye
prophesied : for he that prophcsieth edifieth the Church. Forasmuch,
then, as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the
edifying of the Church. Brethren, be not children in understanding, but
men. Ye may all prophesy, that all may learn, and all may be com-
forted." And observe this, that ^' the spirits of the prophets are subject
188 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
to the prophets : for God is not tlie author of confusion, but of peace, as
in all Churches of the saints. If any man think himself to be a prophet,
or spiritual, let liim acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the
commandments of the Lord. Let all things be done decently, and in
order," 1 Cor. xiv. It is by adopting the admirable method of this
apostle, that the good pastor endeavours to root up the tares of enthusiasm,
without injuring the invaluable grain of devotion.
Here it may, perhaps, be inquired, " If particular manifestations of
the Spirit are admitted, how is it possible to shut the door against dan-
gerous illusions ? Would it not be wiser entirely to reject the dispensation
of the Spirit, while it is confessedly attended with so many difficulties?
And would it not make for the happiness of the Church, were every
member of it to rest contented with having all the Holy Scriptures
explained according to the best rules of reason and criticism ?" We
answer. By no means. Bad money, indeed, is frequently put into our
hands ; but is it necessary, on this account, to obstruct the free course
of that which is intrinsically good ? And would it be reasonable to refuse
a sovereign prince the right of coining for the state, lest that coin should
be counterfeited or defaced? As, in society, after warning the public
of their danger, we content ourselves with apprehending the man who
attempts to impose upon us in this way ; so we may rest fully satisfied
with adopting the same mode of conduct in regard to the Church of God.
Let it be here observed, that the operations of the Holy Spirit upon
the hearts of believers are to be distinguished from the effects of enthu-
siasm in the imagination of visionaries, just as readily as we distinguish
health from sickness, wisdom from folly, and truth fi-om falsehood. Tlie
believers of Rome could say, " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we arc the cliildren of God," Rom. viii, 16. " By one Spirit
are we all baptized," say the Corinthians, " and have been all made to
drink into one Spirit," 1 Cor. xii, 13. And St. Paul could testify, that
many of the Ephesians were " sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, unto
the day of redemption," Eph. iv, 30. " These were all enthusiasts,"
says a modern doctor, " unless they could restore sight to the blind, raise
the dead from their graves, and fluently converse in a variety of lan-
guages, which they had never taken the trouble to study." No, insinuates
the apostle, you forget the essential for the accessoiy, and found your
system upon false suppositions. " Are all workers of miracles ? Have
all the gifts of healing ? Do all speak with tongues ?" There must, then,
be some more indubitable method of distinguishing those whose bodies
are become temples of the Holy Ghost ; and " I show unto you this more
excellent way," 1 Cor. xii, 29-31. What was meant by this excellent
way, may be satisfactorily discovered by an attentive perusal of the fol-
lowing chapter, in which the apostle would have the examination to
turn, not upon the gift of prophecj^ and much less that of languages, but
essentially upon all the characters of charity. Tliis was the reasoning
of Augustine, as well as of St. Paul, when he made use of the following
expression : " You then speak from the Spirit of God, when you speak
from a heart glowing with love."* This also was the method in which
Christ himself was accustomed to argue on this point. " Beware," said
* De Spiritn diets, si dicis ardent igne caritaiis. — Augustine.
TlIK PORXKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 189
he, "of false prophets. Every good tree bringelh forth good fniit.
Wherefore by their fruits ye sliall kiiow them," Mutt, vii, 1.5, 20. And
" the fruit of the Spirit," continues St. Paul, " is love, joy, peace, long
suffering, gentleness, goodness, failh, meekness, temperance," Gal. v, 22,
23. Now fanaticism was never Icnown to bear such fruits as these. On
the contrary, it produces divisions, foolish joy, or stu])id melancholy,
trouble, impatience, and excess of ditferent kinds. Nay, it is frequently
observed to produce assertions diametrically opposite both to Scripture
and reason, together with absurd pretensions to new revelations.
It may be asked, in this place, with a show of reason, " If Christ
still continues to reveal himself by his Spirit to every true believer, are
not such manifestations to be considered as so many new revelations ?"
To this we reply, That when tlie apostle of the Gentiles petitioned for his
Ephesian convcils, " the Spirit of wisdom and revelation," Eph. i, 17,
he was not to be understood as requesting that God would communicate
to them a new Gospel, but rather that he would assist them to discover
all the glory, and to experience all the power of that inestimable Gos-
pel which had been already published among them. " Open mine eyes,"
said David, " that I may behold wondi'ous things out of thy law," Psalm
cxi, 10, 18. iViid when God was graciously pleased to answer this
prayer of the royal prophet, he undoubtedly visited him with the illumi-
nation of his Holy Spirit. But that Spirit was imparted, not for the
purpose of revealing to him a new law, but merel}'^ that he might be
enabled to fathom the depths of that holy law, which had been given
long before. Thus also Christian believers are constantly offering up
their joint supplications, that God would strengthen them " by his Spirit
in the inner man," not for the experience of new revelations, but " that
they may be enabled to comprehend, with all saints, the unsearchable
love of Christ ; and be filled with all the fulness of God," Eph. iii,
16,19.
After having defended internal Christianity against carnal Christians
and deluded fanatics, the faithful pastor is obliged, on another part, to
resist the attacks of gainsaying philosopliers. And this he endeavours
to do, by reasoning with them upon this important subject in the follow-
ing manner : —
We consider the Supreme Being as a Divine Sun, whose centre is
every where, and whose circumference is no where. A Sun, whose
light is truth, and whose heat is charity. The truths of Christianity we
consider as so many beams issuing from this glorious Sun, for the illu-
mination of the soul : and as the rays of the natural sun may be col-
lected and rendered more powerful by the interposition of a properly
constructed medium, so the rays of this Divine Sun are concentred
and rendered more operative by the hiunanity of Christ. When any of
these rays, passing through the understanding, begin to strike forcibly
upon the heart, they melt down its stubbornness, refine its nature, and
kindle in it a fire of love to God and man. Farther : we believe these
changes to be effected in the soul by that secret energy which is called
by many " the inspiration of the Holy Spirit," by some the " influence"
of that Spirit, and by others " the grace of God."
Is there any absurdity in this doctrine ? Can the intellectual world
be supposed to merit the Creator's attention in a less degree than the
190 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUt.
material world? If the rays of light that incessantly issue from the
sun arc supposed to pass through many millions of miles in a single
moment, for the illumination and support of the material world, should
it apjiear incrcdihle, that the most speedy and eflcctual succours may be
imparted to holy souls, by that more glorious Sun, which enlightens and
vivifies the intellectual world ? From the cedar of Lebanon to the moss
that covers its bark, no plant can vegetate ; from the astronomer, who
measures the heavens, to the animalcule that loses itself in the cup of a
violet as in a vast abyss, not a creature can exist, but through the all-
pervading influence of the natural sun. Beneath this wonderful star,
not a single animal is found, which carries in itself its grand principle of
light, heat, and motion. And if all organized bodies depend upon this
indescribable luminary for their existence, their increase, and their per-
fection ; may we not reasonably argue from the rules of analogy, that
as certamly as there is a spiritual world, so there must be a spiritual
Sun, which carries life and light to the inhabitants of that world ?
Do you act in a rational mamier, continues the true minister, if, be-
cause you cannot comprehend how this Sun may be said to act upon
spirits, you shut your eyes against his light, and obstinately deny his
very existence ? Can you comprehend how the material sim, without
suffering any decay m himself, is continually darting ai'ound him raj's
sufficient to illumine and cheer revolving worlds ? Can you explain how
these rays are impelled by such amazing velocity, through the immense
space by which that sun is separated from those worlds ? Or can you
describe the means by which they awaken in us the sensation of sight?
Moreover, is it not absurd to suppose that the Almighty is more soli-
citous that we should perceive the diflerence between wliite and black,
than that we shoidd discover the more important distinctions between
virtue and vice, truth and error ?
If you object, that the material sun is plainly perceived, and the
power of his beams universally felt by mankind, it may be replied, that
he is not always discoverable. Sometimes he is eclipsed ; frequently
he is enveloped with thick clouds ; and at other times his raj^s glance
upon us in so oblique a manner, that their influence is scarcely percepti-
ble. It is possible also to exclude his light by means of curtains or
walls, and the cataract efFectually opposes his most direct beams. In the
moral world there are obstacles of a similar nature, which frequently
obstruct the course of celestial light. Clouds of error and vice are
constantly rising around us, which, by obscuring the Sun of righteous,
ness, leave room for the incredulous to doubt of liis existence. The
eye is, in general, so much dazzled with the glare of material objects,
that it cannot discover the lustre of a different hght. Sometimes, invin-
cible prejudice, like a confirmed cataract, intercepts the strongest rays
of truth : and at other times, we are so closely shut up withm the nar-
row limits of self love, that the most piercing beams of uncreated love
cannot penetrate into our gloomy retirement, where that spark of reason,
which might have directed us to a higher light, is, at length, totally
extinguished.
The light of the Gospel is never absolutely rejected, but through the
influence of sin, according to those words oi' Christ, " Every one that
doeth evil hatctli the light, neither conieth to the light, lest his deeds
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. i'AUL. 191
should be reproved," John iii, 20. And here we see llie cause, why so
many persons cast themselves headlong into materialism, denying the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and treating every impression of his power
as the workings of a disordered brain. But as the testimony of blind men
can never persuade a reasonable person that he is under a delusion,
while he sees, feels, and admires the material sun ; so the joint testi-
mony of all the incredulous men in the world may justly be counted of
as little force, when they would prove Scriptural illumination to be
downright fanaticism. Notwithstanding all the impotent arguments
that can bo brought against him, the Cliristian believer deserves not to
be esteemed an enthusiast, when he declares that " faith is the evidence
of things not seen ;" since he has reason and revelation to plead in his
favour, his own experience, and that of his brethren, together with the
universal testimony of the primitive Church.
As you do not rank with professed Atheists, it is probable that you
sometimes pray to the Supreme Being. Among other blessings, you
implore of him, in a peculiar manner, patience to sustain those afflictions
which are necessary to the perfection of virtue. Now if you are per-
suaded that God is able not only to hear, but to strengthen you with his
might : and, farther, if you believe that when he thus strengthens you
for the day of affliction, you shall have any perception of his influencing
power ; we are then perfectly agreed. But if you pray w ithout a con-
fidence that God attends to your prayer, and without ever expecting to
receive the assistance you injplore of him, you act like persons deprived
of their reasoning powers. Through the fear of praymg like enthu-
siasts, you pray after the manner of idiots, and afford as manifest a
token of extravagant folly, as though you should entreat tempests to grow
cahn, or beseech rivers to return to their sources. It is by such a
method of reasoning that the true minister resists the attacks of pre-
judiced philosophers, solicitous to make it appear that the sanctifying
and consolmg operations of the Holy Spirit are as conformable to reason,
as they are correspondent to our urgent necessities.
But, if it still 1)0 urged by the enemies of inspiration, that we have no
disthict idea of the mamier in which any knowledge is conveyed to the
soul, except by means of our reason, or our senses ; and that to sjieak
of tilings, which will admit of no clear explanation, is running into lliC'
wildest enthusiasm : no, returns the faithful pastor, it is not usual to
esteem that man an enthusiast who is employed in bestowing ahns u|)on
the poor, though he can neither explain to us how his gold was produced
ui the mine, how his will actuates his hand, or how the feeUngs of
charity are excited in his bosom. If nature operates every thuig in a
mysterious manner, it is unreasonable to expect that the operations of
grace should be conducted in a less mysterious way. This is one of
the arguments proposed by our Lord to Nicodemus : " Except a man
be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." But,
it may be, you have no comprehension of s[)iritual things : marvel not,
however, at this; since tiierc are many things above your comprehen-
sion in the natural world, " 'llic wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comcth, and
whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit :" they prove
the operations of tliat Spirit by inconlestable effects, though they are
192 THE PORl-KAIT OF ST. PAUL.
unacquaintetl with many things, respecting the manner in which those
eflects are produced, John iii, 5, 8.
We may here very properly apply what Professor Vernet has said
concerning the manner in which God has frequently manifested the truth
to his prophets. " It is easy to conceive," says this judicious divine,
" that He who created the soul as well as the body, and who for that
reason is called the Father of spirits, can never be at a loss for adequate
means of communicating to us, when he judges it necessary, ideas and
discoveries wholly dilfcrent from those which we are able to acquire
either by our own powers, or through the assistance of other persons.
Il" the most ignorant classes of men arc acquainted with the art of recipro-
cally communicating their thoughts to each other ; how much more may
we imagine that God is able to act upon the soul, both externally and
internally ; he who has already placed within us some confused notions
of primitive truth ; he who holds second causes in his hands, and ani-
mates all nature." (Verite da la Religion Chretiemie, tom. I.)
But if it be g^sked, " Are not prophets, properly so called, the only
persons whom God is pleased to privilege with such impressions as are
formed by the seal of his Spirit '/" It might, with equal propriety, be
inquired, whether the apostles alone m ere privileged with that evangelical
faith, which respects invisible and incomprehensible tilings, Heb. xi, 1,
"A soul," says the illustrious Crousaz, "upon which the Spirit of (lod
has moved, muses upon her Creator with ineffable delight, and contem-
plates her Redeemer with a mixture of gratitude, admiration, and trans-
port. O my God ! such a soul is incessantly crying out, When shall I
see thy face ? When shall thy hght illuminate me, without one dark-
ening cloud ? To approach thee is my only happiness. Happy they
who praise thee without ceasing."
" I acknowledge," continues this Christian philosopher, " that these
may be the natural effects of that attention, with which the Spirit of
God has graciously fixed our minds upon those objects, which revelation
presents lo our view, and upon which it directs us to occupy our thoughts.
But I am not afraid of going beyond the truth when I add, that the
Spirit of God, by his own immediate agency, may inspire the soul with
this sacred taste and these exalted sentiments. Corporeal objects act
u[)on the organs of sense by a power which they undoubtedly receive
from God. This may, in some measure, be understood : but in what
manner their action passes from thence upon the soul, is a mystery too
obscure to admit of an explanation. Christian philosophers have con-
ceived, that the will of God, and some established order of his appoint-
ment, arc the only cause of those internal sentiments, of which these
impressions upon the outward organs are but the occasion. This being
the case, under what pretext can we refuse to believe that the Spirit of
God may give rise to such sentiments in the soul, as are abundantly
more conformable to the nature of their holy cause, than those ordinary
sentiments, which are, nevertheless, referred to the will of God, as their
first and true cause ? Such are those sentiments which St. Paul so ear-
nestly solicited for his followers at Ephesus, and for the increase of
which he implored upon them the influence of the Holy Spirit," Eph.
iii, 14, 21. {See Professor Ci'ousaz^s sermon upon 2 Cor. xiii, 14.)
Such also arc those impressions, motions, and aids of the Holy Spirit,
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 193
both mediate and immediate, for which we offer up so many ardent
supplications in different parts of our public service. Every Christian
liturgy is filled with petitions of this nature ; petitions which are equally
conformable to the principles of Christianity, the voice of reason, and
the necessities of sinful men ; though they usually appear to the children
of this world as the mere unintelligible jargon of enthusiasm. The
minister who strictly follows the example of St. Paul in this respect, will
most probably be regarded as a visionary by the ignorant and the pro-
fane : but while he breathes out these ardent prayers, in humble faith,
accompanying them with those discourses and that conduct which are
correspondent to such requests, he has, at least, a satisfactory conscious-
ness that he has never practised the arts of an impostor with the liturgy
in his hand ; nor played the part of a comedian in a Christian pulpit.
As to the real advantages which may be expected to flow from our
doctrine of the dispensations, though they have been adverted to in
various passages of this work, yet it appears not unnecessary to take a
transient review of them in this place.
1. By an accurate acquaintance with these dispensations, every evan-
gelical preacher may become an approved workman, " rightly divitUng
the word of truth," 2 Tim. ii, 15 ; and a faithful servant, distributing to
every domestic of his Master's household, that pecuhar portion of spiritual
food which is suited to their several circumstances, Matt, xxiv, 45.
2. By exactly dividing the dispensations of grace, we are enabled to
mark out the boundaries of those particular states which believers of
different classes are observed to enjoy. We ascertain that degree of
spiritual life to which we ourselves have attained. We distinguish the
various graces bestowed upon us : we discover whatever great promise
is still before us, and solicit, without ceasing, the accomplishment of that
promise. Ho who preaches the Gospel, without tracing out the lines
which separate the three dispensations of grace, may be said to exhibit
a sun dial upon which the hours are unmarked, and from which little
else than confusion, if not dangerous mistakes, can be expected to flow.
3. By the hght of tliis doctrine, true worshippers of every different
class may be taught to acknowledge and esteem one another, according
to their different degrees of faith. Nothing is more common in a Chris-
tian country-, than to see the rigidly orthodox uncharitably treating, as
hopeless outcasts, not only those virtuous Deists who are yet luiac-
quainted with the Son, but even those pious Socinians, who are resting
satisfied with that inglorious state in which the first disciples of our Lord
were so long detained, and who are unable to acltnowledge any more
than his humanity. Let these orthodox professors become acquainted
with the various dispensations of grace, and ceasing to offend either
virtuous Deists or pious Socinians with their furious anathemas ; they
will treat the former with all the benevolence which St. Peter once
expressed toward Cornehus, and the latter with that brotherly kindness
which Aquila manifested in his carriage toward Apollos. On the other
hand, if those Christians, who are yet carnal, had any proper idea of
these diflcrent dispensations ; if they could believe that the same Jesus
who was once outwardly manifested among the Jews, still continues to
manifest himself in the Spirit through every part of the world, to those
who are anxiously pressing into the Idngdom of God ; if they could
Vol,. III. " 13
194 THE PORTEAIT OF ST. PAUt.
admit, but in theory, this eminent dispensation of grace, they would no
longer argue against those, as enthusiasts, who speak of the influence of
the Spirit iu Scriptural terms.
So long as this glorious light shall continue in obscurity, so long we
may expect to observe among Christians the most unfriendly disputes :
and tliough they never again may kindle blazing piles for their mutual
destruction, yet bitter words, interchanged among them, like so many
envenomed shafts, will continue sternly to declare that war is in their
hearts. Those who imagine themselves in possession of the purest
Christian faith, will treat others, who indulge different sentiments, as
infidels and heretics ; while these, in return, will stigmatize their uncha-
ritable brethren with the opprobrious epithets of enthusiastic and fanatic.
But when every minister of the Gospel, enlightened with ti-uth, and
glowing with charity, shall faitlifully conduct the flock of Christ from
grace to grace, and from strength to strength, then the foremost of that
flock will manifest their reUgious superiority, by giving proofs of the
most unfeigned affection toward the meanest and most infirm of their
spiritual compimions. Copying the humble courtesy of St. Paul, these
ui.presuming elders will cry out among their younger brethren, "Let
us, as many as be like minded, fui"gettmg those things which ure behind,
and reaching forth unto the things which are before, press earnestly
toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus ;
and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded," that perfect charity, which
hopeth all things, engages us to believe that "God shall reveal even
this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us
walk by the same rule, let us mind the same things," Phil, iii, 13, 16.
It may not be amiss to conclude these remarks upon tlie three grand
dispensations of grace, by observing how unperfect worshippers deceive
themselves, while they refuse to proceed from faith to faith. It is the
opinion of many sincere Deists, who are zealous for the dispensation of
the Father, that were they to embrace the dispensation of the Son, they
must necessarily detract from the honour due to the incomprehensible
God. This prejudice, however, evidently flows from the wunt of spiritual
discernment ; since the Holy Sci-ii)lure instructs us, that when " at the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he
is Lord of heaven and earth," such religious adoration shall be considered
as ultimately heightening "the glory of God the Father," Phil, ii, 10, 11.
For if the Father leads us to the Son, by the drawings of his "-race as
wc are taught by the following passages : " No man can come unto me,
except the Father draw hun," John vi, 44. " Simon Peter said, Thou
art Christ, the Son of the living God : Jesus answered him, Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven," Matt, xvi, 16, 17. It is equally
certain, that, when we come to Christ, he teaches us botli to know and
worshi[) tlie Father. Observe the langUcige of our Lord, with respect
to this point. " I am the way, the trutii, and the hfe : no man cometh
unto the Father but by me," John xiv, 6. " Falher, glorify thy Son,
tliat thy Son also may glorify thee. This is life eternai, that they might
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou liast sent.
Righteous Father, the world hath not known thee : but I have known
thee, and these have known that thou hast bcnt mc," to make an open
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 195
display of tliy glory upon earth. " I have declared unto them thy name,
and I will declare it," yet more perfectly, John xvii. From these pas-
sages it evidently appears, that the faith of the Son can never possibly
take away from that profound veneration which is due to the Father.
And what is here observed, relative to the faith of the Son, is no less
true with regard to the faith of the Holy Spirit. For, if under the dis-
pensation of Jesus, we learn to address our " Father, who is in heaven,"
with a degree of humble confidence, it is only under the dispensation of
the Spirit that we are enabled to make those addresses with all that filial
reverence and that lively fervour which the Gospel requires. This
" Spirit of adoption," by witnessing " with our spirit tliat we are the
children of God," Rom. viii, 15, 16, assists us to bow before our celestial
Parent with tliat inctfable veneration and love which are due to the Su-
preme Being. If philosophers would duly reflect upon these important
truths, they would no longer tremble under the vain apprehension of
becoming idolaters and tri-theists, by admitting the doctrines of the Gos-
pel. On the contraiy, we might indulge a hope that these proud rea-
soners would one day be seen, in company with humble believe'-s,
approaching the God of their fathers, through the intercession of the
Son, and with the energy of the Holy Spirit ; crymg out with St. Paul,
" There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. ii, 5 : " and through him we have access, by one
Spirit, unto the Father," Eph. ii, 18.
There is another class of worshippers wliu are ziealous for the dis-
pensation of the Son, and who, wholly taken up with the " Word mani-
fested in the flesh," imagine that his dispensation is rendered contemptible,
if it be represented merely as the commencement of Christianity, while
the perfection of the Gospel is declared to consist in the dispensation of
the Holy Spirit. To the consideration of such, we would propose the
following expression of St. Paul : " Henceforth know we no man after
the flesh : yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet hence-
forth linow wc him no more," after this manner, 2 Cor. v, 16. And
though our Lord is acknowledged to have spoken on this wise, " Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will
raise him up at the last day ; for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed :" yet it must liliewise be confessed that he immediately
added, " It is the Si)irit that quickenetli ; the flesh profiteth nothing,"
John vi, 54, 63.
The following observations, it is hoped, will entirely dissipate the
fears of these pious persons : — "When the Spirit of truth is come," saith
our Lord, " he wiU guide you into all truth ;" and especially into those
truths which respect faith toward me, and repentance toward my Fatlier.
" He shaU glorify me ; for he shah receive of mine, and shall show unto
you" the merits of my righteousness, the efficacy of my death, and the
power of my Gospel, John xvi, 13, 14. "The Father shall give you
another Comforter, which ye" already know in part ; " for he dwellcth
with you," even now in my bodily presence, "but hereafi^er he shall be
in you," when I shall have baptized you with the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven. "I will not leave you comfortless. I wiU come unto
you. The world seeth me no more ; but ye shall see me," in the effects
of my indwelling power; and "because I live, ye shall live also. At
196 THE PORTKAIT Of ST. PAUL.
that day ye siiall know that I am in my Father, and ye m me, and I
[by my Spirit] in you," John xiv, 16, 23. This spiritual abode of
Christ in the souls of his people, is the most glorious mystery of the
Gospel : and " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ," Rom. viii, 9,
he is, at best, either a disciple of Moses or of Jolm the Baptist : he is
not in a spiritual, but in a carnal state.
" I live, yet not I, but Christ hveth in me," Gal. ii, 20. " Christ is
our life," Col. iii, 4. " The mystery which hath been hid from ages,
is Clirist in you the hope of glory," Col. i, 26, 27. " My little children,
of whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you," Gal. iv, 19.
These, with a thousand other Scriptural expressions, must be utterly
incomprehensible to those who, resting contented with a literal knowledge
of the incarnate Word, admit not the internal manifestation of Christ, by
his Spirit of revelation, wisdom, and power. " The deep things of God
are revealed unto us by his Spirit," 1 Cor. ii, 10 ; and, without this
Spirit, we must continue strangers to the most exalted truths of the Gos-
pel, and be cut off from the purest springs of rehgious consolation.
" This is he," saith St. John, " that came by water and blood, even
Jesus Christ ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the
Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth," 1 John v, 6. As
though the apostle should say, " Christ, indeed, in the first part of his
ministry, proclaimed that repentance toward God, which his own disci-
ples, as well as John the Baptist, were accustomed to seal with a bap-
tism of water. And to this saured ceremony he himself condescend-
ingly submitted. But after this he proceeded farther, when, as a visible
Saviour, he sealed his own dispensation of grace with a baptism of blood
upon the cross. Moreover, it is the Spirit that gives testimony to the
unsearchable truths of the Gospel, by his still more excellent baptism ;
deepening our repentance toward God, and adding a full assurance,
Heb. X, 22, to our faith in Jesus Christ. Let no one then suspect that
the manifestation of the Spirit must necessarily obscure the glory of the
Son ; especially since it is expi'essly declared, " that no man can say
that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. xii, 3.
Before we close this section, we have to lament that this importimt
part of the Gospel is so rarely published among professing Christians.
The greater part of the clergy are to be ranked with the most violent
opposers of spiritual religion. They insult its followers, they condemn
its advocates unheard, and presumptuously " speak evil of those things
which they know not," Jude 10. As there was a time in which the
Jewish Church overlooked the most important promise under the dis-
pensation of the Father ; so it was intimated that a time would come, in
which the Christian Church, sunk into a state of listlessness and incre-
duUty, should neglect the grand promise under the dispensation of the
Son. " When the Son of man comcth," saith our Lord, " shall he find
faith on the earth ?" Luke xviii, 8. He will find little indeed, if we may
either rely upon our own observations, or give credit to the most solmon
assertions of a predicting apostle, 2 Tim. iii, 1, .5.
All our ecclesiastics, however, are not of this description. Among
the thousands of this sacred order, we find manv who are possessed of
godly fear. Scriptural faith, and Christian chanty. These pious evan-
gelists are anxious for tiie salvation of those committed to their charge.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 197
They labour to spread the kingdom of God among men, though they
have never experienced that kingdom according to the fukiess of the
promise. And though they are unacquainted with the abundant pleni-
tude of the (jospel, yet they cease not to pubhsh that Gospel abroad
vdth affection and zeal. They preach the cross of Christ; but they
proclaim not the spiritual coming of a risen Saviour. As their careless
brethren refuse to publish the coming of the Spirit, through infidelity and
prejudice, so these upright ministers neglect to preach it, through un-
certainty and irresolution. If they even entertain a just opinion of the
doctrine for which we plead, yet they are restrained from speaking
frequently and freely upon the subject, because as many false Chris-
tians have rendered the dispensation of the Son contemptible in the eyes
of Deists ; so many vainly-inspired zealots have caused the dispensation
of the Spirit to appear ridiculous before sober-minded Christians. But,
notwithstanding the reproach which many fanatics of various sects have
brought upon this subhme part of the Gospel, by mingling with it the
reveries of a heated imagination, yet it will constantly be regarded, by
every well-instructed Christian, as the quintessence of our holy religion.
There appears httle probability that this neglected doctrine will be
either universally received or preached in our degenerate day. But as
truth has never been left entirely destitute of witnesses, and as the gene-
rality of ministers have still courage enough to maintain, before an un-
believing world, the dispensation of the Son ; we may reasonably hope
that they will continue to mention the dispensation of the Spirit, at least,
on every commemoration of the pentccostal glory. By this mean we
may preserve among us a precious spark of sacred fii*e, till our return-
ing Lord, bursting through the clouds of incredulity, shall kindle the
spark into an everlasting flame. In that day the idle pretensions of
enthusia^s shall no more influence believers to reject the Holy Spirit,
than the vain pretensions of those false Christs, who formerly appeared
among the Jews, could influence the faithful to reject their only Lord
and Saviour. T\\e dispensation of tlie Spirit shall then appear as glori-
ous to the eyes of admiring Christians, as the dispensation of the Son
once appeared to ravished Simeon : and every apostolic pastor shall
conduct his flock from the dispensation of the Father, through that of
the Son, to that of the Holy Spirit, in as rapid a manner as St. Peter
is reported to have done in his first discourse.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
PART III.
AN ESSAY
CONNECTION OF DOCTRINES WITIf MORALITY
Preliminary observations.
Some divines, almost wholly occupied with the doctrines of the Gos-
pel, are not sufficiently careful to insist upon morality ; while philoso-
phers, for the most part, as wholly taken up with morality, treat the
doctrines of the Gospel with neglect and disdain. It is to reconcile, if
possible, these two mistaken classes of men, that a few observations are
here presented upon the importance of such doctrines and their imme-
diate connection with morality.
Morality is the science which regulates our manners, by teaching us
to know and to follow justice, rendering to every one their due, love,
honour, obedience, tribute, &c. The whole of this morality is included
in those maxims of natural and revealed religion : " Whatever ye would
that men should do unto you, do yc even so unto them," Matt, vii, 12.
" Render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's ; and unto God, the
things which are God's," Matt, xxii, 21. Hence it follows, that pure
morality must maintain some form of Divine worship.
Some moralists, it is true, imagine it possible to be strictly just, with-
out making any profession of piety. But if justice consists in doing that
to others which we desire may be done to ourselves, it is clear, that
every man who honours not the Supreme Being must be unjust, as well as
impious: since, if we are parents or benefactors, we manifest so deep a
sensibility of the injustice of our children or dependents, when they
repay our kindness with insolence and ingi'atitude.
Doctrines are, in general, precepts ; but by doctrines are here par-
ticularly understood, those instructions which Christ and his apostles
have given respecting the different relations in which we stand to God
and to each other, together with the various duties consequent upon such
relations.
Such insli-uctions, as are transmitted from generation to generation,
under the name of maxims or doctrines, whetlier they be true or false,
Jmve a prodigious effect upon the conduct of those who admit them. In
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUt. 199
the ancient world, how many hapless infants have been sacrificed among
the Greeks and Romans to that barbarous inaxim, that fathers have the
right of life and death over llicir new-born children. In the modem
world, how vast a number of unborn infants, and how many fanciful
heroes are falling every year unfortunate \ictims to those maxims of
false honovn". It is better to destroy the fruit of an illicit love, or to
plujige a sword into the bosom of a friend, than to hve without that
\vhich constitutes the honour of the sexes ! Overturn these maxims of a
false point of honour, and you destroy the principles upon which a thou-
sand impious actions are committed.
Mankind can no more divest themselves of all prepossession in favour
of general maxims, than they can lose sight of determining motives.
The Atheist and the iniidel have their particular doctrines, as well as
the just man and the Christian. The inconsistency of some philoso-
phers, ui this respect, is here worthy to be noted, who begin their dis-
courses by decrying maxims in general, and conclude them by setting
forth and maintaining the most dangerous doctrines. " The road to
permanent happmess," say they, " is both convenient and spacious.
The Almighty pays but little regard to our actions, and has endued us
with passions for the very purpose of-gratifying them." They insinuate,
that if a man is sufficiently rich to entertain a number of women, he
may innocently enjoy whatever pleasure their society can afford him ;
and tha^, when he has no longer any relish for life, he may as innocently
blow out his brains. Such are the doctrines, and such is the morahty,
which many ill-instructed professors are preaching among us at this day;
giving ample testimony that no men are more ready to set up for dog-
matists than those who reject the doctrines of the Gospel,
CHAPTER I.
Philosophers, so called, exalt themselves vnthont reason against the doc-
trines of the Gospel
As those who affect exterior acts of devotion are not always possessed
of the most solid piety, so they who are foremost to magnify philosophy
are not always to be regarded as the wisest of mankind. It must, how-
ever, be confessed, that many Christians have afforded philosophers too
just a subject of scandal, by continually opposing faith to reason : as
though, in order to be possessed of the richest Christian grace, it were
necessai-y to renounce that noble faculty which chiefly distinguishes us
from the brute creation. Like the great apostle, we may rationally op-
pose faith to sense ; but we can never, without the highest indiscretion,
oppose it to reason. We should even be cautious of saying, with M. de
Voltaire and St. Louis, "Take heed liow you follow the guidance of
your weak reason.'"* The reason of man is acloiowledged to be weak,
when compared with the intelligence of superior beings. But whatever
its weakness may be, it becomes us with gratitude to follow it as our
guide ; since, in a gloomy night, it is better to profit from the smallest
taper that can be procured, than obstinately to shut our eyes and walk
* A ta foible raison, garde toi de rendre.
200 THR PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
at random. If believers prefer the revelation of Christ before the phi-
losophy of infidels, it is because the most enlightened reason influences
tiieir choice.
The true believer is not afraid of pleading against modern philoso-
phers boibre the tribunal of reason. " You accuse me," he may say,
" of superstition ; because in pursuing those honours, riches, and plea-
sures which are eternal, I have chosen the rough and uncomfortable
path of piety. But, while I act thus, I act in no less conformity to the
princij)les of reason, than the man who, to expel a sweet poison, receives
a bitter antidote, and cheerfully submits to a disagreeable regimen, till
he be restored to perfect health. If the sacrifice of a few trifling enjoy-
ments for the present will secure to me the possession of everlasting
felicity, I do but imitate the prudent husbandman, who deprives himself
to-day of a few bushels of grain, that, after a few months of patient
expectation, he may reap from his trivial loss an abundant han^est.
And is it unreasonable in me to adopt such a mode of conduct ; espe-
cially when the sweet hope of promised blessings affords me, even now,
a joy as solid and constant as yours is transitoiy and vain ?"
Ye men of boasted wisdom ! we dare assert, that the secret springs
of your morality are weak and gross in comparison with ours. You
maintain that, in order to bind a rational creature to the practice of mo-
rality, nothing farther is requisite than the consideration of his own
interests. You affirm, moreover, with equal confidence, that all attempts
to urge mankind to the exercise of virtue, by the consideration of evan-
gelical motives, is but depending upon the force of ties which are too
feeble to be binding. But you perceive not that the method upon which
you proceed with so much self- approbation, is entirely unwoithy of true
moralists, since it merely opposes one evil by means of another full as
detestable, in giving that to pride which it wrests from other vicious pro-
pensities. And you, undisceming instructor of Emilius and Sophia !
you, who say in your confession of faith, " Unkqowing how to deter-
mine, I neither admit revelation nor reject it ; rejecting only tlie obliga-
tion to receive it :" — if you have removed those powerful motives to tme
virtue, which are drawn from the Gospel, what have you given us in
exchange ? " Love, that you may be loved again. Become amiable,
that you may be happy. Make yourself esteemed, that you may be
obeyed. What greater felicit}' can a noble soul possess, than that which
flows from the pride of virtue, joined with beauty." How puerile and
insufficient are these motives, when compared with those which the
Gospel presents ! Leading mankind to virtue by such a route as this,
is it not to inspire them, at once, with all a Pharisee's pride, and a
Jezebel's vanity ?
When we draw a veil over the sublime objects of faith, and place
before men the mere consideration of some pi'esent advantage, in order
to influence their conduct ; then we actually treat the rational part of the
creation as we are accustomed to deal with the most brijtish animals.
Behold tliat swine making up to a heap of corn. Throw but a single
handful of that heap in his way, and he will pass on no farther ; since
fifty grains of corn, scattered immediately before his face, w'\\\ attract
him more forcibly than as many bushels piled up at a distance. Were
it possible to make him an offer of all the harvests in the universe, after
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 201
a single hour ; yet he would not sacrifice, for them all, the poor enjoy-
ment of the present moment. He who thus fixes his attention upon
temporal and sensible objects, forgets that his soul is immaterial and
immortal. He who cannot be engaged to the practice of virtue but by
means of such unworthy motives, may be said to infuse morality in the
cup of Circe lest he should be constrained to receive it at the hand
of Christ.
Why are infidel and unstable Christians observed to fall before
temptation ? The only reason that can be given is, that being affected
in too lively a manner with the things that arc immediately before them,
they are in no condition to contemplate those objects which are more
remote, of how great importance soever they may be. Hence the ines-
timable objects of faith appear to ihem as the fixed stars discover them-
selves to the vulgar, despoiled of their real magnitude and glory, and
apparently of too little consequence to merit much attention. With the
sincere Christian the case is wholly different. His faith, which is a gift
from God, may be compared to a Divine telescope, by which tlie most
distant objects are brought within his ken. And of this sacred help he
happily avails himself, till wholly certified of the nature and importance
of celestial things, he necessarily acquires ideas suitable to so grand a
discovery.
Observe here the groimd of St. Paul's definition of faith, Eph. ii, 8 ;
Heb. xi, 1. Destitute of the same assistance, what wonder is it that
the infidel should remain a perfect stranger to the Christian's sacred
views and exalted sentiments? He foolishly rests contented with the
naked eye of his reason, regardless of that ignorance and those preju-
dices with which it is too frequently obscured. Thus, self deluded, he
despises the Divine instrument above described, and scoffs at those who
are known to use it ; just as the illiterate were formerly accustomed to
set at nought the most profound astronomers, and to look with derision
upon their mysterious a))paratus.
As to the power of this faith, by which alone any spiritual discovery
can be made, it is too wonderfiil to be credited, either by the ignorant or
the impious. It " removes mountains ;" and, to the possessor of it,
"notiiing is impossible," Matt, xvii, 20. It aflTords the believer a perfect
" victory" over the present world, 1 John v, 4, by putting into his hand a
"shield," which is impenetrable to "all the fiery darts of the wicked,"
Eph. vi, 16. Here is the Christian's security ! Behind this buckler
of celestial temper he remains in undislurbed tranquillity, while the
incredulous philosopher, together with the abandoned sensualist, are
hurling agamst it the feeble darts of ridicule and malice.
It must be acknowledged, that many excellent precepts of morality
are found in the Koran, and in the works of modern philosophers : but it
must be asserted, at the same time, that the enemies of Christ are chiefly
indebted to revelation for every just conception of religious truth. The
authors of the Koran, of Emilius, and the Philosophical Dictionary,
before ever (hey began to dogmatize, were apprized that there is a (Jod,
whom it is our duty to love above all things, and who has conunanded
us to love our neighbour as ourselves. It is, therefore, matter of little
surprise, that a lovely sentiment of this kind should heie and there
brighten a page of their gloomy volumes. Their false coin could never
202 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
have become current in the world, unless they had artfully mingled with
it some little quantity of ihe pure gold of Scriptural truth.
We sliall conclude this chapter with a beautiful j)assage from Tertul-
lian, in which he points out the difference between a true Christian and
a philosopher, so called. After having spoken of the vices with which
the Greek philosophers were infected, he makes the following reply to
a very common objection. "It is objected, that some also among us
are guilty of violating the laws of virtue. But it must be remembered,
that such offenders pass no longer with us for Christians : while, among
you, after the commission of many vicious actions, philosophers still
preserve their reputation, and continue to be had in honour. What
resemblance then is there between the Christian and the philosopher ?
The one is a disciple of Greece ; the other of Heaven. The one seeks
to establish a fair reputation ; the other aspires to work out his salva-
tion. The one speaks admirable words ; the other performs good
actions. The one destroys, and the oilier builds up. The one deals in
error, and the other in truth." {Apolog. chap. 46.)
CHAPTER II.
TJie doctrines of natural religion and philosophy are insufficient to produce
true charily in the heart.
The doctrines of natural religion, such as the being of a God, an
overruhng providence, and a judgment to come, are the first doctrines
of the Gospel : but, hitherto, they have never been found sulhcient to
lead men into the love and practice of sohd virtue.
As the earth, deprived of its primitive fecundity, requires not only the
genial influence of the sun, but must be enriched and assisted by many
other means, in order to recover its lost fertility ; so the truths of natu-
ral reUgion can never restore the degenemte soul to its lo^st perfection,
without the powerful assistance of a revealed Gospel. On this account,
the Father of mankind has condescended to instruct us in doctrines
more efficacious than those which unassisted nature can discover, and
abundantly better suited to our weakness ; that the tree of morality,
Jiaving more numerous and vigorous roots, might be assisted to throw
out fruit of a more exquisite Ivind, and in greater abundance, than it
was formerly known to produce. " What the law," says St. Paul,
" could not do, [the natural or Mosaic law,] in that it was weak through
the flesh, [that is, our corrupted nature, which stands in need of greater
helps than those wliich the law can aflbrd,] God, sending his own Son,
condemned sin in the flesh, tliat the righteousness of the law might be
fulHlled in us," by a power derived from him, Rom. viii, 3, 4. Hence this
promised Saviour was spoken of as " the desire of all nations," Hag. ii, 7.
And hence that public declaration of Christ concerning the nature of his
mission to the cliildren of men : " I am come, that they might have life,
and that they might have it moi'e abundantly," John x, 20.
Without revelation, we are left a prey to the most cruel inicertainty.
The Almighty created man that he might partake of his own felicity :
and, after having placed in his heart an ardent desire after the sovereign
good, he made a benign discovery of himself, as the one only and inex-
TIIK POHTRAIT or ST. PAUL. 203
haustible source of true blessedness. But since the darkness of sin has
overspread our understanding, wc have lost sight of this sovereign good,
and are seeking it where it cannot possibly be found. Like Ixion in the
fable, while wc embrace a cloud, we imagine ourselves in possession of
a sublime reality. And even afler repeated convictions of our folly,
uninstructed by disappointment, we set out again in pursuit of objects
full as fi'ivolous as those by which we have been already beguiled.
Philosophers, imable to guide mankind to true happiness, are vainly
searching after it themselves in darkness and uncertainty. Divided into
a variety of sects, they maintain a hundred different opinions upon a
subject of so great importance. So that after all the researches of its
professors, philosophy has left the world in a state of equal perplexity
with a man who, having but one arrow to level at the mark, has a
hundred different marks proposed to him at the same time.
In all this uncertainty, how happy is it to discover a volume which
decides the momentous question in so clear a manner, that reason itself
can object nothing to the decision ! This book, the most ancient that can
be produced, informs us that Jehovah once appeared to the father of the
faithful, " and said unto him, I am the mighty,* all-sufficient God : walk
before me, and be thou perfect." So " will I make my covenant between
me and thee :" and thou shalt become a joyful possessor of the sovereign
good. Gen. xvii, 1, 2. When these truths are once cordially assented
to, the perplexity of the believer is then sweetly terminated, and his high
vocation completely pointed out. From this time he feels the import-
ance of those doctrines wliich, like steady lights, eclipse a thousand
glimmering meteors, and discover, amid surrounding dangers, a sure
though narrow road to happiness. And here it is to be observed, that
upon these important truths, as well as upon every other essential point.
Christians of all denominations are perfectly agreed.
What is meant by " walking before God in perfection," is fully ex-
plained in the following terms : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself," Matt, xxii, 37, 39. Now
unregenerate man, far from tilling up these duties, neglects the Supreme
Being, and prefers his own particular interest to that of society in gene-
ral ; affording the strongest proof that he possesses neither genuine
piety nor undissembled charity. Hence, before such a man can become
truly virtuous, it is evident that his principles must be improved and his
inclinations rectified. And till these salutaiy changes take place in his
soul, always vicious, restless, and selfish, he will continually be making
some addition to his external errors and his internal misery.
Deists, while they acknowledge that we are bound to love both God
and man, presume upon the sufficiency of their own ability for the due
performance of these extensive duties. Were they, however, truly
anxious to practise these virtues in as unreserved a manner as even na-
tural religion requires, they would quickly perceive the weakness of
humanity, and acknowledge the deepest need of Divine assistance.
But so long as the piety of these persons consists in " honouring God
with their lips, while their hearts are far from him," Isaiah xxix, 13;
and while they boast of manifesting toward mankind a love so universal,
* Sec the original.
204 THE- PORTRAIT OF ST. PArL.
that none but their enemies are excluded from it, Matt, v, 43 ; so long
they will need no other assistance for the performance of these wretched
services, than that which corrupted nature can amply afford.
It is frequently asserted, that the mysteries of redemption are utterly
useless with respect to morality, and that the benignity of God, as exem-
plified in our creation and preservation, is a sufficient motive to affection
and obedience on the part of man. But since man has become a sinful
and disobedient creature, every motive to rectitude that can possibly be
drawn from his creation and preservation, has lost much of its former
constraining influence. How many persons may we find in the world,
wiio, instead of being penetrated witli gratitude on account of these
blessings, lament, with despairing Job and Jeremiak, that ever they were
boi'n ! And when the miseries of life have rendered it almost insupport-
able, can we reasonably imagine its repining possessor to be glowing
with love to the Deity, merely as the author and preserver of his un-
happy existence ? Surely nothing can be more absurd than such a sup-
position. Yet liow many boasted reasoners confidently maintain, that
the veiy same gift, which wretched sufferers, in eveiy age, have thrown
back to the giver with anguish and contempt, is nevertheless a motive
sufficiently powerful to engage ever)^ transgressor of the Almighty's law
to love him with all their heart, and serve him wth all their power!
But let us suppose that man, miassisted by the doctrines of the Gospel,
has some know ledge of the sovereign good, and the means by which it
may be obtained. Yet how superficial is this knowledge ! We might
here produce a gloomy catalogue of those capital errors into which the
ancient philosophers have fallen, with regard to these important points.
It must, indeed, be allowed that modern professors have corrected many
of those errors : but it must be lamented, at the same time, that they have
unhappily adopted others, not a whit less glaring or fatal. Passing over,
in silence, the horrible systems of atheistical writers, let us listen to philo-
sophers of greater estimation, among whom Rousseau and Voltaire may
rank as the most conspicuous characters. The former of these acquired
considerable reputation by his observations upon the education of youth,
and the latter, by the courage with which he contended for toleration.
" Let it be laid down," says Rousseau, " as an incontestable maxim,
that the first movements of nature are always right ; and that there is
no such thing as original sin in the human heart." How large a stride
is here toward the sentiments of La Metric ; all whose morality was
wrapped up in this single sentence, " Satisfy thy desires ; they are the
voice of God and of nature." To enlarge this little quotation from
J. J. Rousseau would be a superfluous task. It must appear evident to
every unprejudiced reader, from the above assertion, that the maxims of
this admired philosopher have a greater tendency to advance self gratifi-
cation than to promote universal benevolence in the world.
Turn we now to the toleration of M. de Voltaire. In his epistle to
Boileau, we find him writing thus : " I have consecrated my voice to
sing the praises of virtue ; overcoming those prejudices which are idol-
ized by the ignorant, I dare to preach toleration to persecutors."* Now
* A chanter la virtu j'ai consecrc ma voix ;
Vainqiier des prejuges que I'imbecile essence,
J'ose aux persecutenrs prccher la tolerance.
THE I'OKTRAIT OF ST. PAVL. 205
when any man cnnips forth, in this public manner, to plead the cause of
candour and liberality, we are naturally led to admire the generosity of
his conduct. And it would be well, if M. de Voltaire was really de'-
serving of all that credit, which a stranger feels disposed to give him,
Avhen he assumes so questionable an appearance. But notwithstanding
the praises which this celebrated writer has bestowed upon his own hu-
manity, and in spite of all the beautiful things he has said upon tolera-
tion, many ungenerous sentiments may be discovered in his works,
which tend to renew the most bloody persecutions. Take an instance
or two.
1. "It is never necessary to rise up against the religion of the
prince." Upon this principle, Jesus Christ and St. Paul were highly
worthy of blame for withstanduig the hypocrisy and idolatry which
composed the religion of Caiaphas and Tiberius.
2. " What is called a Jansenist, is really a madman, a bad citizen,
and a rebel. He is a bad citizen, because he troubles the order of the
state : he is a rebel, because he disobeys. The Molinists ai'e madmen
of a more harmless kind." These two lovely maxims of toleration are
to be found in a little piece of M. de Voltaire's, entitled, The Voice of a
PhilosqpJier and the People.
Had the king of France attended to this voice, he would have re-
garded every Jansenist, and for the same reason, every Protestant, as a
bad citizen, or a rebel ; every spark of religious moderation would have
been extinguished hi his royal bosom, and an effectual door thrown open
to the ten'ible exertions of tyrannical power. These pretended rebels
might then have perished, unpitied and unheard ; while the bigoted
prince, convinced that a man vntst cease to he a fanatic before he merits
toleration, might have gloried in the rectitude of his public conduct.
Such a prince might have commanded his blood-thirsty troops to ad-
vance under the banners of modern philoso|)hy, leaving M. de Voltaire
to animate them against the innocent with, what he calls, Tlie Voice of a
Philosopher.
It appears, then, according to M. de Voltaire, that every subject
should profess the religion of his prince. Nor is this opinion less earn-
estly contended for by J. J. Rousseau, who tells us in his Emilius, that
" every daughter should be of her motlier's religion, and tiiat every
woman should profess the religion of her husband." So that, if a man
should turn fiom the true, and embrace a false religion, his wife and
children are bound to apostatize with him : and in case of a refusal on
their part, J. J. Rousseau, while he affects to plead the cause of liberty,
pronounces upon them a sentence of condemnation. Upon these j)rin-
ciples of toleration, the father of a family is authorized to persecute his
non-conforming wife and children, and a pruice may lawfully take up
arms against such of his subjects as are esteemed fanatics. If the
benevolence and morality of these candid [)hilosophers were to be substi-
tuted in the place of that liberality and love which the Gospel requires,
Mark ix, 38, <iic, to what a deluge of misery would it give rise, both in
families and in conunojiwealths ! Kings would tyrannize over the con-
science of their subjects, husbands over that of their wives, and |»arents
over that of their children : nor would the least religious liberty be ex-
perienced by any class of men, except the piiace.s of the earth- Such
206 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
is the imperforl charity, and such the limiteH freedom, for which modern
philosophers have contended, with equal earnestness and approbation.
The dangerous principles of these two oracles, upon the subject of
toleration, will suffice to show with how just reason the former of them
could say, " I hate false maxims, but I detest evil actions yet more."
Alas ! the horrible actions of a murdering inquisitor tenninate with his
life ; but the intolerant doctrines of these reputed sages may continue
to scatter misery and death through the world, long after their neglected
tombs are mouldered into dust.
CHAPTER III.
The great injluence of doctrines upon moraHiy.
To ascertain the importance of doctrines in general, let us consider
the influence that they have upon our conduct. Our duties in life de-
pend upon the different relations we sustain in it ; and these relations
aftect us only as they are understood. Tlius, it is necessary that a
child should know his father before he can truly love him in that cha-
racter. This knowledge is the effect of certain instructions or maxims
which influence our manners in proportion as they are assented to. I
love the man from whom I have received my birth and education with a
particular affection : but such love is founded, first, upon tliis general
doctrine, " Every child, honourably born, should reverence and love his
father," and, secondly, upon this particular truth, " That man is my
father." If I am made to doubt of this general doctrine, or of this
particular truth, the moral springs of that respect, love, gratitude, and
obedience, which are due to my father, will necessarily be weakened ;
and if either the one or the other should lose all its influence over my
heart, my father would then become to me as an indifierent person.
The knowledge, therefore, of the affinities which subsist between
one being and another, is essential to morality. Why is it that no traces of
morality can be discovered among the beasts of the field ? It is because
they arc incai)able of understanding either the relation hi which creatures
stand to the Creator, or the affinities which subsist among the creatures
themselves. As it becomes the soldier to have a strict knowledge of his
officers, that he may render to every one according to his rank the
honour and obedience to which they are severally entitled ; so, prepa-
ratory to the practice of morality, it behooves us to have a clear per-
ception of our various duties, together with the proper subject of those
duties. If some desperate malady has deprived us of this knowledge,
we then rank with idiots, and are in no condition to violate the rules of
morality. Hence the lunatic, who butchers his father, is not punishable
among us as a parricide, because he has no acquamtance with these
general maxims, " No man should murder another, — every son should
honour his father ;" nor has he any conception of this particular truth,
" The man whom thou art about to destroy, is thy father."
Take away all doctrines, and you annihilate all the relations which
subsist among rational creatures ; you destroy all morality, and reduce
man to the condition of a brute beast, allowing him to be influenced by
passion and »;aprice, as the lowest animals are actuated by appetite and
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 207
instinct. Admit only some few doctrines, and you adnut only a part ot"
your duties as well as your privileges. An example may sei've to set
this truth in a clear light : — suppose you have a rich father, who is
entirely unknown to y'ou, and whom the world has never looked upon as
your parent ; if you never receive any certain intelligence concerning
him, it is plain that you can neitlier render him filial obedience, nor yet
succeed to his estates.
Many philosophers, who cannot reasonably be suspected of fanaticism,
or even partiality to evangelical principles, have yet strenuously insisted
upon the hnportance of doctrines, as calculated to influence the conduct
of mankind. A polished writer of this class seems to have entertained
an idea, that if all men were possessed of an enlightened understandmg,
crimes of every kind would be unknown in the world. Observe, at least,
in what terms he speaks of war, which is an evil of that complex nature,
that it may justly be looked upon as an assemblage of eveiy possible vice.
" What is the cause of that destructive rage, which, in every period, like
a contagious malady, has infected the human race ? Ignorance is, im-
doubtedly, the source of our calamities : ignorance with respect to the
relations, rights, and duties of our species. Thus, the most ignorant and
unpolished people have ever been the most warhke ; and those ages of
the world, which have been peculiarly distinguished by darluiess and
barbarism, have been invariably the most fruitful in murderous wars.
Ignorance prepares the way for devastation ; and devastation, in its turn,
reproduces ignorance. With a clear knowledge of their rights and their
reciprocal duties, which form the true and oidy interest of nations, it is a
contradiction to suppose that those nations would voluntarily precipitate
themselves into an abyss of inevitable evils."* This author, if he be
sjupposed to speak of our relations and duties with respect to God, as
well as those whicli regard our neighbour, had I'eason on his side ; and
especially if his views were directed to the knowledge of every powerful
motive which should constrain us to fill up those duties.
Upon these principles, of what fatal neglect are those persons guilty,
who, being charged with the religious instructions of princes and people,
leave both immersed in a deplorable ignorance, which draws after it the
horrors of war, with all the various calamities that overspread the face
of Christendom !
CHAPTER IV.
How the doclrincs of the Gospel come in to the succour of moralUy.
If to preach the Gospel is to teach sinners the relations they sustain
with respect to God, as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier ; if it is to
amiounce the advantages which flow from this three-fold relation, till,
penetrated with gratitude and love, mankind apply themselves to fulfil
the several duties to whicli they stand engaged ; we may challenge the
world to point out any knowledge of equal importance with that vvliich is
discovered in the Gospel. To deprive us, tlien, of the doctrnies con-
* rriucipoa do la Leiii.slation I'niverselle.
208 THE rOUTUAIT Ol ai. VAVL.
tained in this Clospel, is it not to suppress the most important instructions
we can possibly receive, and to conceal from us a testament made wholly
in our favour? To decide this question, we shall here consider what
influence these doctrines have upon morality.
The virtues of worldly men, as well as their vices, are little else than
a kind of traffic carried on by an inordinate self love. From this impure
source the most amiable of their actions flow ; and hence, instead of
referring all things primarily to God, they constantly act with an eye to
their own immediate advantage. Clirist has olTered a remedy to this
grand evil, by teaching us, that to love the Deity " with all our heart"
is the " first commandment" of the law ; and that to love ourselves, and
" our neighbour as ourselves," is but a secondary commandment in the
sight of God : thus leading us up to Divine love, as the only source of
pure virtue. When self love is once reduced to this wholesome order,
and moves in exact obedience to the Creator's law, it then becomes truly
commendable in man, and serves as the surest rule of fraternal affection.
Evangelical morality ennobles our most ordinary actions, such as those
of eating and drinking, requiring that '' all things be done to the glory of
God," 1 Cor. X, 31, i. e. in celebration of his unspeakable bounty. A
just precept this, and founded upon the following doctrine : " All things
are of God," 2 Cor. v, 18, to whom, of consequence, they ought finally
to refer. If you lose sight of this doctrine, your apparent gratitude is
nothing more than a feigned virtue, which has no other motives or ends,
except such as originate and lose themselves in self love. In such
circumstances you cannot possibly assent to the justice of the grand
precept above cited. But holding it up, like the author of the Philoso-
phical Dictionary, as a subject of ridicule, you may perhaps burlesque
the feelings of a conscientious man with regard to this command, as the
comedian is accustomed to sport with the character of a modest woman.
Thus many philosophers are emulating the morality and benevolence of
those censorious religionists, concerning whom our Lord significantly
declared, " Verily they have their reward."
How shall we leduce a sinner to moral order ? WiU it be sufficient
to press upon him the following exhortations : — Love God with all thy
heart : be filled with benevolence toward all men : do good to your
very enemies? All this would be only commanding a rebel to seek
happiness in the presence of a prince whose indignation he has justly
merited. It would be urging a covetous man to sacrifice his interests,
not orJy to indifferent persons, but to his imjilacable adversaries. To
effect so desirous a change in the human heart, motives and assistance
are as absolutely necessary as counsels and precepts.
Here the doctrines of the Gospel come in to the succour of morality.
But how shall we sufficiently adore that incomprehensible Being, who
has demonstrated to us, by the mission of his beloved Son, that the Divine
nature is love ? Or, how shall we refuse any thing to this gracious
Redeemer, who clothed himself with mortahty that he might suffer in
our stead? All the doctrines of the Gospel have an inunediate tendency
to promote the practice of morality. That of the incarnation, which
serves as the basis of the New Testament, expresses the i^enevolcnce of
the Supreme Being in so striking a manner, that every sinner, who cor-
dially receives this doctrine, is constrained to surrender his heart unre-
THE rORTKAlT Oh' ST. PAUL. 209
servedly to God. His servile fear is changed into filial reverence, and
his inveterate aversion into fervent love. He is overwhelmed with the
greatness of benefits received, and, as the only suitable return for mercies
of so stupendous a nature, he sacrifices, at once, all his darling vices.
" If the Son of God has united himself to my fallen nature," such an
humble believer will naturally say, " I will not rest till I feel myself
united to this Divine Mediator. If he comes to put a period to my
misery, nothing shall ever put a period to my gratitude. If he has
visited me w^ith the beams of his glory, it shall henceforth become my
chief concern to reflect those beams upon all around me, to his ever-
lasting praise."
The memorable sacrifice which was once oflered up in the person of
Christ, as a propitiation for our sins, is wonderfully calculated to pro-
duce the same extraordinary effects. This mysterious offering sets forth
the malignity of our ofienccs, and represents the compassion of the Deity
in so overpowering a mamier, that, while it fills us with horror for sin,
it completely triumphs over the obduracy of our hearts. From the mo-
ment we come to a real perception of this meritorious sacrifice, from
that moment we die to shi, till, " rising again with Christ" into a new
lite. Col. iii, 1, we become, at length, wholly " renewed in the spirit
of our mind," Eph. iv, 23. Point out a man who unfeignedly believes
in a crucified Saviour, and you have discovered a man who abhors all
manner of vice, and in whom every virtue has taken root. Such a one
can thankfully join the whole multitude of the faithful, and say, " Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus
Christ," Rom. v, 1, " and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God," v, 2,
" we have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine \vhich was
delivered unto us." Once, indeed, when we were without the knowledge
of Christ, " we were the servants of sin : but now, being made free from
sin, and become servants of God, we have our fruit unto holiness, and
the end everlasting life," Rom. vi, 17, 22.
If you ravish from such a man these consoling and sanctifying doc-
trines, you will leave him either in the stupid insensibility of those who
give themselves up to carnal security, or in the perplexity of otliers, who
are crying, " What shall we do to be saved?" The one or the other of
tliese states must be experienced, in different degrees, by every man
who is unacquainted with the efficacy of evangelical doctrines. And if
the first moraUst (Socrates) of the Pagan world was yet observed to
triumph over this stupidity and confusion, it was merely through the
regenerating hope he indulged, that a restoring God, of whose internal
operations he had already been favoured with some famt perception,
would one day afford him a more clear and perfect light.
CHAPTER V.
Containing refections upon the apostles' creed.
For the fullest proof that a strict comiection subsists between the doc-
trmes of the Gospel and the most perfect morality, let us cast our eyes
on an assemblage of those doctrines, known by the name of the apostles'
Vol. III. 14
210 THE PORTHAIT OF ST. PAUL.
creed ; a creed to which every true Christian conscientiously subscribes,
and which baptized hypocrites make a solemn show of assenting to.
Our prejudice against these holy doctrines must necessarily vanish, after
we have duly considered the influence they naturally have upon the con-
duct of true behevers.
This confession of faith has three parts. The first contains the prin-
cipal doctrines of Deism, or natural religion, setting forth the relation in
which we stand to God, as Creator. The second part of tliis creed
includes the principal doctrines contained in the four Gospels, and places
before us the relation we bear to God, considered in the character of
Redeemer, or as coming to save the world by that extraordinary person,
who is called the only begotten Son of God. The doctrines bere enu-
me rated are those with which the disciples of our Lord were wholly taken
up till the day of their spiritual baptism. Tlie third part presents us with
a recapitulation of the principal doctrines set forth in the Acts and Epis-
tles of the apostles. This latter part of the Christian creed instructs us
in our relation to God, as Sanctifier, or as coming to regenerate man by
that Spirit of truth, consolation, and power, which was promised by Christ
to his followers : a Spirit, whose office is to instruct and sanctify the
Church of Christ, to maintain a constant communion among its members,
to seal upon their consciences the pardon of sin, to assure them of a
future resurrection, and prepare them for a life of everlasting blessedness.
Let us review these three parts of this apostoUc creed, and observe the
necessary reference they have to morality.
The first article of this creed informs us that there is an all-powerful
God, who is the Creator of all things in heaven and in earth. It is
evident that no man can renounce this doctrine, without renouncing
natural religion, and plunging headlong into Atheism. If there is no
God, there can be no Divine law, and morahty becomes a mere insigni-
ficant term. Human laws may, indeed, restrain the wretch who indulges
a persuasion of this nature ; but were it not for the authority oi" such laws,
he would throw off' the mask of decency, and laugh at the distinction
between virtue and vice.
If you admit, with Epicurus, the being of a God, without admitting
an overruling providence : if you believe not that the Creator is an all-
powerful Parent, and, as such, peculiarly attentive to the concerns of his
innnense family : you then destroy all confidence in the Supreme Bcmg :
you take from the righteous their chief consolation in adversity, and
from the wicked their chief restraining curl) in prosperity.
Mutilate this important doctrine by admitting only a general provi-
dence, and you destroy the particular confidence which holy men indulge,
that God dispenses to his children, according to his unsearchable wis-
doin, both prosperity and adversity ; that he listens to their supplications,
and will finally deliver them out of all their afflictions. You trample
under loot the most powerful motives to resignation and patience ; you
nourish discontent in the heart, and scatter the seeds of despair among
the untbrtunate. Yet all this is done by many inconsistent advocates for
niorahty.
Heathens themselves were perfeclly convinced, that the practice of
morahty was closely connected with tiie above-mentioned doctrines.
Cicero> in his book conceniing the nature of the gods, seems to appre-
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 211
hend, that the whole edifice of morality would ftill to the ground, were
the doctrine of" a particular providence to be taken away : " For," says
he, " if" the gods observed not what is transacted here below, what would
become of religion and holiness, without which human lite would be
replete with trouble and confusion? I am persuaded that, in banishing
the fear of the gods, we should, at the same time, banish from among
us good faith, justice, and all those other virtues whicli arc considered as
forming the basis of society."
CHAPTER VI.
The connection of morality with the second part of the apostles' creed.
The doctrines adverted to in the latter part of the preceding chapter,
compose the religion of Theists, who believe in God as Creator and
Preserver, but who know him not as the Restorer of Ikllen man. They,
however, who give their unfeigned assent to the first i)art of this creed,
will never contentedly rest at the threshold of truth. After duly attend-
ing to the blessings of creation and preservation, they will readily per-
ceive how destitute they are of that love, that gratitude, and that
obedience, which are so justly due to the Author of all their mercies.
Hence gradually discovering that, even with resi)ect to their neighbour,
they are void of that justice and charity which should be mutually exer-
cised between man and man, they will humbly acknowledge their trans-
gressions, and begin to apprehend those mysterious tmths by which the
Christian religion is distinguished from Deism.
In our ancient confessions of faith, no mention is made of the misery
and depravity of man. Far what need was there to make so melan-
choly a truth an article of faith, since it has been publicly demonstrated,
in every age and country, by the conduct of all classes of men ? To deny
that indisputable evidences of this truth are every day to be met with, is
to deny that there are in the world prisons, gibbets, soldiers, fields of
blood, and beds of death.
If we give up the doctrine of the fiill, and, of consequence, that of the
restoration, we give the lie to the general experience of mankind, as well
as to that of our own hearts ; we shut our eyes against the light ol" con-
viction ; we cast away, in the midst of a labyrinth, the only clue that
can guide us through its winding mazes. x\nd after such an act of
folly, we shall either, with infidel philosophers, disdain to implore the
assistance of die Supreme Being, or, like the haughty Pharisee, we shall
approach him with insolence.
If", in direct opposition to the doctrine of our depravity, we affirm, that
" all things are good, and the human species as free from imperfection
as the Almighty at first intended," we then neglect the only probable
means of overcoming sin, and obstinately endeavour to preclude all pos-
sibility of our restoration. Thus, by persuading a loathsome leper that
his malady is both convciiient and becoming, we teach him to despise
the most efficacious remedies, and leave him a deluded prey to deformity
and corruption. But if it be once admitted tliat we are immersed in
sin, without the least possibility of restoring ourselves to a state ofinno-
212 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
cence, we have, then, some degree of that humility which disposed St.
Paul to embrace a persecuted Saviour, and by which alone we can be
prevailed upon to embrace the second part of this sacred creed.
To reject that which respects either the conception, the birth, the
sufferings, the death,* the resurrection, or the ascension of Jesus Christ,
is to reject every thing that concerns this condescending Saviour ; since
it is one and the same Gospel that instructs us in all these different doc-
trines. To remove one of these doctrines is to break the chain of evan-
gelical truth, by destroying one of the links of which it is composed ; it
is ultimately to deny the authority of revelation, if not absolutely to over-
throw that grand edifice, of which Jesus Christ " is the chief corner
stone." In a word, as the doctrine of our redemption by a crucified
Saviour is rejected, either wholly or in part, so we reject, either in part
or altogether, the most constraining motives to repentance and gratitude,
obedience and purity.
An unholy course of conduct proceeds from two principal causes,
pride and the rebellion of the senses : from the former arises the disorder
of our u-ascible passions ; and from the latter proceed all our irregular
desires. Now, before these evils can be perfectly remedied, or the un-
holy become truly virtuous, it is necessary to eradicate pride from the
heart, and to subdue the irregular appetites of our degenerate nature.
I'his is undoubtedly the most difficult task to be accomplished in life ;
liut what is impracticable to the incredulous Deist, becomes actually
possible to the sincere believer. By the example of his persecuted
Master, he is animated to trample upon all the pride of life ; and upon
Ihe cross of his dying Lord, he is ci'ucified to the sensual delights of this
present world. " Take my yoke upon you," says the blessed Jesus,
" and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart," Matt, xi, 29.
'• Christ hath sufiered for us," continues St. Peter, " leaving us an ex-
ample, that ye should follow his steps," 1 Pet. ii, 21. "Let the same
mind be in you," adds St. Paul, " which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the fomi of God," voluntarily " took upon him the form of a
servant, and became obedient unto the death of the cross," Phil, ii, 5, 8.
It is necessary to be well acquainted with the human heart, and to have
accurately observed the infiuence that example has upon mankind, in
order to understand the great advantage which Christians have over
Deists, even allowing the moraUty of both parties to be equally pure.
What is there of which those persons are nojt capable, who follow the
King of kings, encouraged by his example, and supported by his power?
Thus supported, no command will appear too strict to be obeyed : no
burden too heavy to be sustained ; but we may joyfully triumph, like the
first imitators of Jesus, over that imiate pride and those sensual desires
* Here is no mention made of our Lord's descent into hell, because the ex-
pression itself is an equivocal one : the Greek word hades by no means answer,
iiig to Iho English word hell. St. Paul was ever ready to make mention of every
thing that respected his Divine Master ; but where he speaks of his death and
resurrection, he is not observed even to hint at this singular doctrine ; and if, by
omitting it in this place, we are judged guilty of a capital error, the great apostle
himself was guilty in this respect, Rom. iv, 25 ; viii, 34 ; 1 Cor. xv, 4. But if St.
Paul and the four evangelists have made no mention of this extraordinary circum-
stance, it cannot certainly be considered as a fundamental article of the Christian
faith.
THE POBTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 213
upon wliich tlie incredulous continually striking, as upon dangerous
rocks, make shipwreck of all their boasted morality.
The last article, recounted in this part of our creed, must be supposed
to have a prodigious influence upon the minds of men. Take away the
doctrine of a judgment day, in which an infinitely holy and powerful
God will render unto every man according to his works ; you then take
from the wicked those salutary fears which restrain them in the career
of vice, and from the righteous those glorious hopes which are the
strongest incentives to a life of godliness.
CHAPTER VII.
The connection of morality taith tlie third part of the apostles^ creed.
The first article, in the third part of this ancient confession of faith,
respects the confidence wliich every beUever indulges in the Divine
grace, or rather, in that Holy Spirit which sanctifies the sinful and con-
soles the afflicted. If, by an obstinate iaicredulity, we reject this sacred
Comforter, we refuse the wisdom and power which result from an inti-
mate union with the Father of lights, and disclaim all fellowship with
that Divine Mediator, whose humanity is far removed from the sight of
men. As we could xleiive no possible advantage from a sun, whose
rays, concentrated in himself, should neither visit our eyes with their
cheering light, nor our bodies with their kindly heat, so, if the Almighty
neither illuminates our mmds by the Spirit of truth, nor anianates our
souls by the Spirit of charity, we may reasonably suppose him to have
as little interest in the concerns of men as the statue of Olympian
Jupiter.
The remainder of this creed respects the nature of the Church and
the privileges of its members.
To destroy the doctrines which relate to the holiness of those who
truly appertain to the Church of God, the universality of that Church,
and " the communion of those saints " of whom it is composed ; — this is
to overthrow the barriers which form the pale of the Church, confound,
ing the holy with tiie profane, and the sincere with the hypocritical.
Take away the doctrine that " respects the remission of sins," and
you leave us hi a state of the most cruel uncertainty. You take away
from penitents that expectation which sustains them ; and from believers
the gratitude that engages them to love much, because much has been
forgiven them, Luke vii, 47. You destroy the most powerful motive
we have to pardon the offences of our neighbour, Eph. iv, 32, and leave
us in a state of solicitude incompatible with that internal peace which
is the pecuhar privilege of Christians, John xiv, 27.
Rob us of the doctrine of a future resurrection, and you leave us
weak in times of danger, alarmed in times of sickness, and wholly in
bondage to the fear of death. But, while we remain in possession of
this exhilarathig tmth, we can follow, without fear, the standard of the
cross ; the most cruel torments are rendered tolerable ; and we can sub-
mit, without repining, to a temporary death, looking forward to a glori-
ous resurrection and a happy immortality.
214 THK POKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
CHAPTER VHI.
Consequences of the foregoing observations.
All crimes are founded uj)on those errors which are first embraced
in theory, before they are adopted in practice. Overthrow these errors
by opposing to tiiern pure and incontrovertible doctrines, and you destroy
sin in tlie bud. On the other hand, true virtue is produced by truth.
Oppose a He to this truth, and, if it be admitted, you destroy the seeds
of virtue. So long as the first man had his heart penetrated with the
certai]ity of this doctrine, " If I am ungrateful enough to disobey my
Creator, I shall die," so long he remained in a state of imiocence. But
to this doctrine the tempter opposed his false promises. " You shall not
surely die," said lie ; on the contrary, " you shall become [wise and
happy] as gods." No sooner were these delusive doctrines assented to
on tlie part of Adam, but his understanding becoming necessarily clouded,
his will was inniiediately beguiled : and thus, bUndly following the temp-
tation, he fell into an abyss of misery.
Doctrines, whether they be good or bad, still continue to have the
same influence upon the conduct of men ; and to suppase the contrary,
is to suppose that light and darkness can never cease to produce their
ordinaiy effects. The following doctrine, " Out of the pale of the Ro-
mish Church there is no salvation," has filled Europe with fires, scaf-
folds, and massacres. Eradicate this doctrine from every prejudiced
heart, and plant in its room the following Scriptural truth, " God is no
respecter of persons ; but in every nation, he that feareth him and
worketli righteousness is accepted with him," and, in the place of stream-
ing blood, we shall see streams of charity uninterruptedly flowing
through every Christian kingdom.
The miser imagines that riches are the sovereign good, and that the
highest pleasure consists in counting over and over his splendid hoards.
The debauched youtli is confident that the sovereign good consists in
sensual gratification, and the highest gratification in the enjoyment of a
frail beauty, destined to be the prey of worms. Destroy these ground-
less persuasions by solid doctrines: demonstrate- to these infatuated
creatures that God himself is the sovereign good, and that this good is
offered to us in .lesus Christ ; and that the highest enjoyment consists in
having the heart penetrated with Divine love, and in looking forward
with a lively hope of being one day eternally united to God. Convince
them of these momentous truths, and the charms by which they have
been captivated so long, will be immediately broken. Ah ! how delight-
ful is it to behold such sensual reasoners awaking from their deathiul
slumber, and crying out, with St. Augustine, " O eternal sweetness !
•Ineffable greatness ! Beauty for ever new ! Truth, whose charms have
been so long unnoticed, alas, how mucli time have I lost in not loving
thee !"
Sound reason must unavoidably submit to the force of these observa-
vations, the truth of which is demonstrated by the general conduct of
mankind. But, perhaps, the best method of reasoning with the incredu-
lous, is to point out the consequences of their own system. Imagine a
man, who, instead of receiving the doctrines of the Gospel, publicly
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 215
presumes to make the following declaration : " I believe not in God the
Creator : I trust not in any Mediator, nor acknowledge any sanctifying
Spirit. And, as I believe not in God, so I beUeve not in what is called
liis Church ; nor do I look upon the communion of those who worship
him m any other hght than that of a mere chimera. I believe not in
the remission of sins. I look for no resurrection, nor indulge any hope
of everlasting hfe. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
Were any man seriously to repeat in your hearing such a confession of
his faith, would you fix upon such a one for the management of your
estate ? Would you intrust liim with the charge of your wife, or choose
him for the guardian of your children ? Would it be possible for you
to depend upon his word, or confide in liis honesty ? Now, imagine
this veiy infidel, in some future season, convmced of his former errors,
and fu'mly persuaded that he acts under the eye of an omniscient God,
who will bring " every work into judgment, with every secret thing,"
Eccles. xii, 14: suppose him smiting upon his breast with the peni-
tent publican, and determining, with St. Paul, to know nothing " among
men save Jesus Christ and him crucified," 1 Cor. ii, 2: would you
not indulge a better opinion of this man, in his believing state, than when
he rejected, with modern philosophers, the doctrines of Christianity ?
It could not possibly be otherwise : so true it is, that, in certain
cases, your conduct will give the lie to your arguments against the
utility of evangelical doctrines.
J. J. Rousseau professes to have hated bad maxims less than evil
actions : when, as a wise man, he should have detested the former as
the cause of the latter. It is not sufficient that we profess to make the
principles of virtue the ground of our conduct, unless that basis be
established upon an immovable foundation. Without attending to this
rule, we resemble those Indians, who suppose the world to be founded
upon the back of an elei)hant, while that elephant is supported by the
shell of a tortoise ; and who, perfectly satisfied with such a discovery,
attempt not to understand any more of the matter.
A system of morality, how beautiful soever it may appear, unless it
be supported by doctrines of the utmost consistency and firmness, may
be compared to a splendid palace erected upon the sands : in some un-
expected storm it will assuredly be swept away, proving, at once, the
disgrace of its builder, and the ruin of its inhabitant.
CHAPTER IX.
An appeal lo experience.
Experience goes far in the decision of many difficult questions, and
before it the most subtle sophism cannot long maintain its ground. To
this, therefore, we cheerfully appeal for the happy effects of the (iospel.
Ye mcredulous sages of the day, show us a single enemy to the doctrines
of revelation, who may tridy be called an humble man, conductuig him-
self soberly, jtistly, and religiously, in all the trying circumstances of
lite. Through the wiiole circle of your iiifidel acquaintance, you will
seek such a one in vain.
216 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
If it be said that J. J. Rousseau, though a professed skeptic, presented
us with the portrait of a perfectly honest man : we answer, in the first
place, that J. J. Rousseau rejected not the Gospel as an obstinate enemy ;
but rather counted it an affliction that he was unable to embrace its doc-
trines. And, secondly, that this philosopher was equally destitute of
humility and religion.
It must be confessed that there are multitudes of inconsistent persons
in the world, who constantly deceive themselves, and who frequently
delude others, by their fallacious notions of faith and incredulity. We
meet with many, who, while they rank themselves in the number of
believers, are usually employed in the works of infidels. And, on the
other hand, we observe divers penitent worshippers, who, through an
excess of humiUty, account themselves no better than infidels, while
they manifest in their conduct the fidelity of Christians. But these par-
ticular exceptions are insuflScient to destroy the general rule here con-
tended for : since the former must be looked upon as believers, and the
latter as infidels, only in appearance. The first have not sincerity
enough to acknowledge their secret incredulity ; and the last have not
light sufficient to determine their exact advancement in the Christian
faith. The latter deserve our pity, while the former merit our in-
dignation.
But turn your eyes upon an enlightened believer. Behold St. Paul,
after his memorable submission to the persecuted Jesus ! The love of
God possesses his soul, and he consecrates all his powers to the service
of his exalted Master. Appointed to instruct the ignorant, he discharges
his important commission with indefatigable zeal. Carrying to the
afflicted both spiritual and temporal succours, he appears to be borne
from east to west, as upon the wings of an eagle. He is ready to spend
and be spent for the common interests of mankind. He proves his
fidelity and gratitude to Christ at the hazard of his life. His magna-
nimity and fortitude, his resignation and patience, his generosity and
candour, his benevolence and constancy, are at once, the amazement of
his enemies and the glory of his followers. Behold this converted
Pharisee, and acknowledge the wondrous efficacy of evangelical
doctrines.
Ye slaves of philosophical prejudice ! how long will you mistake the
nature of doctrines so happily adapted to humble supercilious man, so
perfectly calculated to destroy both presumption and despair ; to bend
the most hardened under the tender pressure of mercy, and caiTy up
gratefiil behevers to the sublimest summit of virtue ? Behold three
thousand Jews submitting, at the same instant, to the constraining power
of these doctrines. Through tlieir transcendent efficacy, innumerable
miracles are still daily operated among us. They dispel the mists of
ignorance, they destroy the seeds of injustice, they extmguish irregular
desires, and open in the heart a source of universal charity ! Thus,
" the multitude of them that [formerly] believed were of one heart and
one soul," &c. Enjoying together the sovereign (xood, it was not pos-
sible for them to contend with each other for the trifling enjoyments of
time and sense. God had given them his only begotten Son ; how then
could they refuse any thing to their indigent brethren !
Long after St. Luke had borne testimony to the unexampled charity
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PATH.. 217
of Christians, we find Tertullian citing the following testimony, which
his heathen cotemporaries were constrained to bear in favour of the same
Christian virtue. " Behold," say they, " how these Ciiristians love, and
are prepared to die for each other !" " Yes," adds this celebrated
Christian father, " we who have but one heart and one soul are not
afraid to have one purse. Among us all things arc common, except
our wives."*
If the testimony here produced should be disregarded, because drawn
from the writings of a professed advocate for Christianity, we w'ill
readily come to another test. Pliny bears witness to the pure conver-
sation of the persecuted Christians of his time. And the Emperor
Julian himself, one of the most enlightened, as well as implacable ene-
mies of Christianity, exhorted his heathen subjects to practise among
themselves the duties of charity, after tlie example of Christians, " who
abound," said he, " in acts of benevolence." And as to the joy, with
which they sacrificed their lives, when occasion so required, " they go,"
continues he, " to death as bees swarm to the hive." Such influence
have the doctrines of our holy religion upon the conduct of its sincere
professors, even by the confession of their inveterate enemies.
It appears, then, that St. Paid was employed like an experienced
moraUst, while he was engaged in erecting the sacred edifice of
iuorality upon the soUd foundation of evangelical truths. And the
doctrines he made choice of, as peculiarly suited to this purpose, were
those which respect the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Upon these he
laid the greatest stress, and from these he drew his most persuasive
arguments to virtue and piety. Witness that memorable exhortation
delivered to his Roman con^'erts : " I beseech you, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," Rom. xii, 1.
To withhold from the degenerate this cheei'hig truth that " they are
bought with a price," 1 Cor. vi, 20, is to deny them one of the most
powerful motives to love and glorify " God in their bodies and in their
souls," which appertain to him by the endearing right of redemption,
as well as by that original right of creation, to which tiiey are generally
rendered insensible by the afflictions and disappointments of hfe. In-
struct them concerning the sanctity of the Divine law ; set before them
the guilt of their innumerable ofl^ences, and the just fears to which such
discoveries must naturally give rise, will make existence itself an
mtolerable burden. But when the Gospel of our redemption begins to
dissipate their doubts, and allay the anguish of their remorse, they will be
enabled to go on their way rejoicing through the strictest paths of obe-
dience and moraUty.
* Vide, inquiunt [gentes] ut [isti Christiani] invicem se diligxtnt, et ut pro alte-
rutro mori sunt parati. Qui animo animaque miscemur, i\ihil de rei communicatione
duhitamus. Omnia indiscreta sunt apud nos, prater vxores. Apologeticus,
chap. 39.
218 THK I'()T(TI{AIT or ST. PAUL.
CHAPTER X.
An objection anstoered, which maybe drawn from the ill conduct of unholy
Christians, to prove the inutility of the doctrines of the Gospel.
They who exalt philosophy against revelation, imagine that, to in.
validate the preceding reflections, they need only make the following
reply : " All Christians receive the apostles' creed ; but their faith is un-
attended witli the happy effects you have been recounting. Crimes of
every kind are committed by the disciples of Jesus ; and their doctrines,
instead of producing charity, engender little else than dispute and
persecution !" The serious nature of this objection demands a suit-
able reply.
A true Christian was never known to be a persecutor. The cruel
disputes which have arisen among faithless Christians have not neces-
sarily sprung from the nature of Scriptural doctrmes, but rather from the
pride of those tyrannical doctors, wlio have contended for their parti-
cular explications of such doctrines. To insinuate, then, that the
doctrines of the Gospel should be utterly rejected, because some Church-
men have taken occasion from them to stir up vehement contests, would
scarcely be less absurd, than to contend that anarchy is to be preferred
before an excellent code of laws, because unprincipled lawyers are ac-
customed to foment strife, and have it always in their power to protract
a cause. As to the extravagant explications, which the subtilty or
power of men has substituted in the place of evangelical doctrines, they
can no more be said to prove the falsity or unprofitableness of such
doctrines, than the detested policy of tyrants can weaken the force of
that apostolic precept, " Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers," Rom. xiii. But let us come to the main knot of the difliculty.
They who have unfeignedly embraced the doctrines of Christ, far
from indulging in any species of vice, have earned every virtue to a
degree of perfection, surpassing almost the conception of other men.
Rousseau and Montesquieu acknowledge, that even in those countries
where the Gospel has but imperfectly taken root, rebellions have been
less frequent than m other places. . The same acknowledgment must
be made by every unprejudiced observer, with regard to crimes of every
kind. Many offences, it must be owned, are every where common
among the professors of Christianity ; but they would have been abun-
dantly more frequent if antichristian philosophers had been able to take
from them the little respect they still retain for a revealed Gospel.
Moreover, there are many rare virtues which chiefly flourish in secret :
and they who deserve the name of Christians, might astonish incredulity
itself, had not Christ commanded them to perfonn their best services
in so private a manner, that the left hand might not know how the right
was engaged.
Notliing can be more unjust than to impute those evils to the Christian
religion, which evidently flow from incredulity and superstition, fanaticism,
and hypocrisy. Jesus Christ requires of his followers an ardent love
both to God and man ; such a love as was exemplified in the whole of
his own conduct through life. The incredulous deny, either wholly or in
part, the debt of grateful love, which the innumerable mercies of God
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL. 219
impose upon them ; since while the Atheist refuses to acknowledge him
as tlie Creator and Preserver of man, the Deist rejects him as the
Author of our redemption and sanctification. The superstitious, indeed,
acknowledge these immense debts ; but they pretend to pay them witli
idle ceremonies aud vain repetitions of tedious forms. The fanatic
attempts to discharge them with unfruitful fervours, and the hypocrite with
studied grimace. But these errors carmot reasonably be considered in
common with our holy religion, which exposes and condemns them all.
The life of a Christian, so called, must necessarily become pure,
when he is actually possessed of Christian faith, i. e. when he is strongly
persuaded that he walks in the presence of the Almighty, who, being his
Father by creation, becomes so in a still more atlectionate and effectual
mamier, by the mysterious exertions of his redeeming and sanctifying
grace. These three astonishing operations of the Supreme Being are
andoubtedly three grand evidences of his love to man, and must be con-
sidered as so many abundant sources of Christian charity, among the
members of his Church. Hence the man, who acknowledges but one
of these proofs, cannot possiljly be united either to his brethren, or to his
God, with so ardent an afiection as he who admits and experiences all
the three. The Divine charity here spoken of is produced in the heart
by means of faith, and from it proceeds every social virtue, with every
praiseworthy action.
All this is conformable both to reason and experience. A weak sub-
ject will fear to disobey a powerful king, whose eye is actually fixed
upon him : at least, so long as he is penetrated with this thought, " The
king observes me." A son will never exalt himself against a good
father, while he believes that his father, in every possible sense, is good
with respect to him. Brethren, who cordially acknowledge each other
as such, will not dare to abuse one another in the presence of a father
who is mfuutely powerful. And while he leads them to take possession
of a kingdom, which his generosity has divided among them, they will
not threaten to murder each other, under the eyes of their parent, for
the possession of any little enjoyment that presents itself upon the
road. The sons of Jacob had never sold their brother Josepli, if they
had been firmly persuaded that Israel would one day discover their
crime : and they would have conceived the greatest horror, had they
really believed that their heavenly Father was present at the unpious
action, resolving to call them, at some future season, to a severe account,
in the face of the world. A faith, which has no influence upon the
conduct, is no other than the faith of hypocrites, upon whom our Lord
denounces the most terrible judgments, threatening them with everlasting
banishment from his presence, into that outer darkness, where shall be
" weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. I will show thee my faith,"
saith St. James, "by mj' works," James ii, 18. "If any man say,"
continues St. Jolin, " I believe in God, I love God, and hateth his
brother, he is a liar," 1 John iv, 20. The same principles, which in
the present moment gain the ascendency in man, give rise to the words
and actions of the moment. And hence that saying of the apostle,
" Whosoever abideth in him [Christ] sinneth not : whosoever sinneth
hath not seen him," through the medium of a true and hvely faith,
1 John iii, 6.
220 THE POKTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
If there are found pi'ofessors of Christianity, in whom the truths of
the Gospel liave failed to produce a holy conversation, we may take it
for granted that such persons are infidels in disguise, and totally unac-
quainted with the Gospel, except it be in theory. The faith which is
common to these nominal Christians is purely speculative, not differing
less from the solid faith of a true behever than a sun upon canveiss
differs from that wliich spreads light and heat among sun'ounding
worlds. As a plant cannot be nourished by the su})erficial application
of strange sap to its rind, but by a sap peculiar to its own nature, which
flowing beneath its bark, penetrates, enlivens, and nourishes every part
f the plant : so the conduct of a man cannot possibly be reformed by
notions of doctrines collected from books, but by those which, pene-
trating beyond his judgment, insinuate themselves into his heart, and
become incorporated with his very being.
This answer camiot justly be regarded as a vain subterfuge. To be
convinced of its solidity, it will be sufficient to consider how the soul is
afiected according to the different degrees of any impression that is
made upon it. While Jacob was still lamenting the supposed death of
Joseph, Reuben informed him that his beloved son was yet ahve, and
enjoying the second place of dignity in Egypt. These tidings at first
appeared delusive to the good old man, who was no otherwise afiected
by them than by some extravagant relation. But when the affirmations
of Reuben were seconded by the joint testimony of his other sons, his
earnest attention was immediately excited, his incredulity was gradually
overcome, and his fainting heart began to revive. The wagons and
presents of Joseph now appearing in confirmation of his children's
report, his doubts were entirely dissipated. " My son," cried he, " is
yet alive ! I will go and see him before I die." This animating per-
suasion, Joseph is yet alive, seemed to restore the languishing patriarch
to all the vigour of former years. He renounced a terrestrial Canaan ;
he turned his back upon the tombs of Isaac and Rachel ; and with all
the courage of youth set forward to embrace his newly-discovered son
in Egypt. So certain it is, that a truth in which we are deeply inte-
rested, will change in some degree our very nature, and modify the
soul itself.
Thus the Gospel of God our Saviour affects every true believer.
And why should Egypt have greater charms than heaven ? Or why
should an invitation from the virtuous son of Rachel have greater weight
than that which comes from the Divine Son of Mary ? Were the fruits
which Joseph sent his father to be preferred before those of the Spirit,
with which Christ replenishes his favoured Israel? Gal. v, 22, 23: or
did the dissembling sons of Jacob merit greater credit than the apostles
of our exalted Lord, though seconded by that noble army of martyrs,
who have sealed with their blood the truths of the Gospel ? Alas ! if
the fundamental doctrines of this Gospel (for we speak not here of those
human additions by which it is too frequently disfigured and weakened)
had but deeply penetrated our hearts, we should bear testimony, by our
conduct, to the truth of the following assertion : " If any man be [indeed
a Christian,] he is a new creature ; old things are passed away ; all
things are become new," 2 Cor. v, 17.
But why should we go back to the times of Jacob to prove that
THE PORTKAIT OF ST. PAUL, 221
doctrines have an influence upon the conduct of men in proportion to the
degree of faitli with which they are received '.' Let us return and cast
a retrospective view upon the various circumstances of our past hfe.
If we have at any time felt a hvely persuiision of the truth of tlie
Gospel ; if at our first approaching the sacramental table, or after hearing
some pathetic sermon, we have really believed " that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto hmiself," 2 Cor. v, 19, and promising his
people, in return for their temporary labours, everlasting rewards ; have
we not, at such a moment, perceived the love of God and man springing
up in our hearts ? Now, if this partial persuasion had spread itself
through the whole soul, would not our devotion, our humility, and or
charity have been carried to a much higher degree of perfection than
we have hitherto experienced '! Would not our good works, of every
kind, have been abundantly more excellent and numerous than we can
now possibly pretend to ?
On the other hand let us look back to the days of youth, and we shall
recollect a time in which the doctrines of the Gospel began to lose the
little influence they had once maintained over our conduct : we shall
remember, at least, when the licentious principles of worldly men and
the false maxims of infidel philosophers insinuated themselves into our
corrupted hearts. And have we not, since that time, experienced that
the strictest connection subsists between those maxims and immorality?
Have we not, from that unhappy period, become more debauched in
sentiment, less circumspect in our outward behaviour, and more disposed
to trample upon the {)rinciples of natural religion, as well as upon
evangelical precepts ? From these observations we shall proceed to
draw the followmg inferences : —
1. If morality may be compared to a tree, whose fruit is for the
nourishment of mankind, true doctrines may be considered as the I'oots
of this tree. Take away these doctrines, under pretence that they
embarrass morahty, and you ridiculously cut away the roots of this
sacred plant, lest they should prove an impediment to its rising perfection.
Now he who thus seeks the morality of the Gos])el by reprobating
evangelical doctiines, would act entirely consistent with his character,
were he to plant his orchards with trees deprived of their roots in order
that they might produce the moi'e excellent fruit.
2. As m the vegetable kingdom fruits arc nourished and matured by
that vegetative energy which draws the sap from the root, refining, and
distributing it among the several branches ; so in the moral world,
charity and good works can only be produced by that hving faith which
first receives the doctrines of truth, and then becomes a kind of vehicle
to their invigorating virtue. This fiiith was rightly characterized by
Christ and his apostles, when they represented it as the grace by vvhicli
we are principally saved ; since this grace alone is capable of producing
in us that lively hope, that ardent charily, and that universal obedience,
which will ever distinguish the believer from the infidel. He, therefore,
who declaims against this Scriptural faith, whether he be a novice or a
philosopher, indirectly pleads the cause of vice, and gives suflicient
proof of his spiritual ignonuice.
3. From what has been advanced, we may inter the necessity there
js of avoiding the mistakes of the Gnostics on the one hand, and the
222 THE I'ORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
error of incredulous sages on the other : the former of whom, contending
for a speculative faith, salute (Christ as their Lord, though they refuse to
obey his commands ; vvliilc the latter, holding faith in the utmost derision,
and dependmg upon their own power for the performance of every good
work, pollute, by unworthy motives, the most excellent of their actions.
CHAPTER XI.
The same subject continued.
As many have taken great offence in observing how little effect the
doctrines of the Gospel have upon the lives of Christians, so called, it
becomes us here to inquire into the causes of this grand evil.
The doctrines which distinguish Christianity from Theism have this
peculiarity, that no man can possibly receive them unless he has first
sincerely embraced the doctrines of Theism. He must believe in God
before he can believe in Christ ; he must have the sincerity of an honest
heathen before he comes to the possession of Christian charity. It is
usual with the whole multitude of outward professors to cry out in their
public services, "We believe in Jesus Christ; we believe in the Holy
Ghost," &c, though their faith, it may be, is not equal to that of devils, who
believe in the existence of a rewarding and avenging God, with sincerity
sufficient to make them tremble before him. These hypocrites can no
more be said to believe, from the heart, the latter articles of the apostles'
creed, thmi those children who are yet unacquainted with the alphabet
may be said to have perused and digested the most profound authors.
The higher doctrines of the Gospel must necessarily appear both useless
and absurd to those whose faith in God is not sufficient to penetrate
them with a holy fear ; for as we cannot arrive at manhood without first
passing through the state of infancy, so we cannot cordially receive the
latter i)art of the apostles' creed, till we have first embraced the former
part by a lively and steadfast faith. Why did Caiaphas refuse to believe
in Christ ? Because he was but a hypocrite with respect to the Jewish
faith. On the contrary, why did Cornelius, the centuiion, so readily
believe ? It was, undoubtedly, because the sincerity of his faith in God
had prepared his heart for the reception of faith in Christ. " Every
n)an," saith this Divine Saviour, " that hath heard, and hath learned of
the ]<'atlier, comcth unto me," John vi, 45. " Yc who believe in God,
Jjelieve also in me : and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth," John xiv, 1, 16, 17.
These fundamental doctrines compose the ladder of evangelical truth,
in which he who takes offence at any single step, runs a double hazard ;
that of ascending no higher, and even that of falling from the step where
he has obstinately determined to take up his rest. " He that doeth
truth, Cometh to the light," Jolm iii, 21 ; but ho that refuses the first
truths, places himself beyond the possibiUty of receiving those which
are of a more sublime nature. If he has not first observed the dawn
of the (jospel day, he can never contemplate our Divine Sun, when
shining in his meridian brightness.
Tht'! articles of the Christian faith may be compared to a course of
TILE POKTRAIT OF ST. I'AUL. 223
geometrical propositions, the last of which always suppose a perfect
knowledge of the first. To require of spiritual intknis any high and
important acts of faith in Jesus Christ, or in the Holy Spirit, before they
are taught to entertain just notions of the Supreme Being, would lie
equally unreasonable as for a man to pretend that it is possible to make
a good geometrician of an ignorant peasant, by instructing him to repeat
the terms of Euclid's last propositions, without ever bringing him to a
true understanding of the first. If, then, the generality of ChrivStians
are contented with learning merely to repeat our doctrinal terms, we
must expect to see them as far from manifesting the virtues of St. Paul,
as the superficial peasant from possessing the solidity of Euclid.
CHAPTER XII.
Other reasons given for the little injluence tohich the foregoing doctrines
are observed to liave upon Christians in general.
Pkofitably to teach the doctrines of the Gospel, there are certain
rules necessary to be observed ; and where these rules are either
unluiown or neglected, the Gospel becomes of little importance.
1. A true doctrine, in order to have its due effect, must be announced
with purity. It should neither be mutilated by hasty contractions, nor
corrupted by vain additions. The prince of error equally serves his
own interest by perplexing the truth, as by spreading a falsehood : and
when errors are added to evangelical truths, those truths may be com-
pared to excellent medicines unhap[nly mingled with dangerous poisons.
Thus the doctrine of future punishments is not only deprived of its utility,
but becomes really pernicious, by the addition of another doctrine, which
teaches that a sum of money, left as the price of prayer for a departed
soul, will effectually soften, and even terminate its pains.
2. A doctrine should not only be delivei'ed in the purest manner, but
they who announce it should study to demonstrate its excefiency and
power by the whole course of their conduct. Were leprous physicians
to cry up a specific against the leprosy, it cannot l)e imagined that lepers
in general would anxiously adopt a remedy which had been attended
with so little effect upon the recommenders of it. We here intimate,
not without the utmost regret, that too many of the clergy destroy the
effect of their doctrines by the imniorality of their conduct.
3. To give Scriptural doctrines their full effect, it is necessary to make
them pass from the imderstanding to the will, or from the judgment to
the heart of those who admit them. It would be in vain to procure for
a patient the most efficacious remedy, if, instead of applying it according
to the method prescribed, he should think it suflicient to touch it with
his lips, or should content himself with drawing in the grateful odour
exhaling from it. To such a jiatient, however, the greater part of
Christians bear a strict resemblance, who speculate upon the Gospel
without ever embracing it witli that lively " faith which worketh by
love," (iai. v, G.
4. It is not sufficient that these doctrines should be preached in their
native purity ; but it is equally necessary that they should be preserved
224 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
in the same purity by those who receive them. Our Lord makes this
solemn declaration to sinners : " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish." Yet how is it that many thousand Christians who admit this
important truth, remain in the present day in a state of impenitence ?
It is because they mingle with it the following pernicious error : though
I spend the present moment in sm, God will assuredly give me grace to
repent in the latter part of my life. Hence that lamentable inattention
to the duties of religion which is so universal among us at this day.
5. Very frequently the doctrines of the Gospel are attended with no
considerable eflect upon those who admit them, because the salutary
operation of these truths is counteracted by the powerful influence of
earthly desires indulged in the lieart. Thus, in a disordered stomach,
the most wholesome food is deprived of its virtue. To remedy this evil,
it is necessary to enter upon a regimen too severe to be regarded by an
obstinate patient, and upon the absolute necessity of which an inattentive
physician will not peremptorily insist.
6. Where the doctrines of the most humiliating tendency have not
first made a deep impression, there the consolatory doctrines of the
Gospel tend only to uphold the sinner in a course of impiety. Those
preachers who favour the false judgment of worldly men, wanting either
courage or experience wisely to administer the doctrines of the Gospel
so that they may alarm the impenitent and console the dejected ; these
preachers, instead of eradicating, do but increase the evil we lament.
It cannot, indeed, be denied, that they offer many sacred truths to the
world ; but, while they do not nicely distinguish and apply them to the
different states of their hearers, as they only draw their bow at a venture,
it is no wonder that their arrows so ft'equently fall beside the mark.
These pcrplexers of truth contribute as little to the conversion of sinners,
as a i)hysician would contribute to the recovery of the sick, who, without
any prudent selection, compomiding together all the drugs of an excel-
lent j)harmacopa'ia, should indiscriminately offer the same confused
reci[>e to every patient.
7. The doctrines of Christianity are frequently delivered as the opinions
of men, rather than as the declarations of God, founded upon events
much better attested than the most cexlain historical facts : and to this
single error the inefiicacy of those doctrines may, in a good degree, be
imputed. Were reason and conscience made to walk in the front of the
Gospel, tiie want of a Redeemer would be more universally experienced
in the world than it has hitherto been. But while the preachers of that
Gos[)el neglect to assert the depravity of human nature ; or while they
omit, in confirmalion of so melancholy a truth, to make the most solemn
appeals to the consciences of men, so long we may expect to see their
ill-directed labours universally unsuccessful. Had these teachers hi
Israel an experimental acquaintance with those truths upon which they
presume openly to descant, their word would speedily be attended with
unusual efficacy ; their example would give it weight ; and in answer
to their fer\ent prayers, the God of all grace woidd set liis seal to the
truth of the Gospel.
Whenever the messengers of religious truth shall become remarkable
for the purity of their lives, and the fervency of their zeal, their doctrines
will soon be attended with sufficient influence in the Christian world to
THE PORTIIAIT OF ST. I'AUL. 225
overthrow the objection we have here bfeen considering, and effectually
to stop the mouth of every gainsayerj
CHAPTER XIII.
Tlie doctrines of Christianity ham an obscure side. TJie reasons of tJiis
obscurity. The error of some philosophers in this respect.
" The Gospel," says J. J. Rousseau, " is accompanied with marks of
truth so great, so striking, so perfectly inimitable, that the inventor of it
appears abundantly more admirable than its hero. But, after all, this
Gospel is filled with incredible tlmigs, with things that are repugnimt to
reason, and which no sensible man can possibly conceive or admit."
" Remove all the difficulties," conthme the admirers of this philosopher,
" dissipate all the obscurity with which its doctrines are surrounded, and
we will cheerfully embrace the Gospel."
Extraordinary things appear always incredible, in proportion to our
ignorance. Thus, an ignorant negro of Guinea would look U[)on that
man as a deceiver who should assert that there are places in the world
where the surfaces of rivers become so solid, at particular seasons, tliat,
without bridge or boat, whole armies may pass them dryshod. And it
is well known, that the doctrine of antipodes gave no less offence to the
celebrated geographers of a former age, than is unhappily given to the
Deistical sages of modern tinies by the doctrine of a Divine Ti'inity.
As we become better acquainted \vitli spiritual things, instead of
despising the tiiiths of the Gospel as altogether incredible, we shall be
truly convinced that J. J. Rousseau passed the same kind of judgment
upon the doctrines of Christianity, as a savage might be expected to pass
upon some late discoveries in natural philosophy. The sciences present
a hundred difficulties to the minds of young students. By entering upon
an obscure course, they at length attain to superior degrees of illumina-
tion : but, alter all the uidefatigable labours of the most learned profes-
sor, the highest knowledge he can possibly acquire will be mingled with
darkness and error. If men of wisdom, however, do not look with
contempt upon those sciences which arc usually taught among us, be-
ciuise all of them are attended with difficulties, imd most of them are
too abstruse to permit a thorough investigation : how absurd would it be
in us, for these msufficient reasons, to reject that revelation which may
be considered as the science of celestial things ?
To despise the doctrines of the Gospel, because they are attended with
some degree of oliscurity, is to act in as full contrariety to the dictates
of philosophy, as to those of revelation. No follower of .T. .). Rousseau
could blame us, without reproaching himself, if, arguing from the erro-
neous prmciples of his master, we should mtdvc the following declara-
tions: — "Natural ]thilosophy abounds iiriih incredible things which no
sensible man can eii/ier conceive or admit. I have arteries, it is said, winch
carry my blood, with a sensible pulsation, from the heart to the extremi-
ties of my body ; and veins, which, widiout any pulsation, reconduct that
blood to the heart : but since the union ol" the arteries and veins is, to
me, an inconceivable mysteiy, I cannot admit the generally received
opinion respecting the circulation of the blood. I see tiiat the needle
Vol. hi. 15
226. TIIK POKTKAIT OF ST. PAUL.
of the compass perpetually tuhis itself toward the pole, and I have
observed that the loadstoiie communicates to it this disposition : but, as
it cannot be ascertained how all this is eflected, I look upon all the
voyages of Anson and Cook, which are said to have been performed by
means of the compass, just as infidels are accustomed to look upon the
Gospel. I will no longer increase the number of those idiots who untliink-
ingly pass over a bridge while they are perfectly unacquainted with the
plan upon which it was built ; and who vulgarly depend upon their
watches with regard to the regulation of time, without being thoroughly
versed in the mechanism of timepieces. I will never again be persuaded
to take a medical preparation till I have penetrated into the deepest
mysteries of physic and chemistry. In short, I resolve neither to eat nor
to drink ; neither to sow my gi'ounds, nor to gaze upon the sun, till I am
enabled perfectly to comprehend whatever is mysterious in vegetation,
hght, and digestion." If the preceding declarations might reasonably.be
considered as evident tokens of a weak and puerile judgment, the follow-
ing affii'mation undoubtedly deserves to be considered in the same point of
view : — " I grant that the science of physics has its unfathomable mys-
teries : but, as a philosopher of the first rank, I insist upon it, that nothing
of a mysterious nature should be suffered to pass in religion, that deep
metaphysical science, which has for its objects the Father of spirits, the
relation in which those spirits stand to their incomprehensible Parent,
their properties, their Ught, their nourishment, their growth, their dis-
tempers, and their remedies, their degeneracy, and their perfection." Ye
who are anxious to be saluted as lovers of w isdom, if such be the absur-
dity of your common objections against the Gospel of God our Saviour,
what poor pretensions have you to the boasted name of philosophers !
This answer may be supported by the following observations : —
In the present world. we serve a kind of spiritual apprenticeship to
" the truth, which is after godliness," Tit. i, 1 ; and it is not usual hastily
to reveal the secrets of an art to such as ha\'e but latelj' bound them-
selves to any particular profession. This privileg-e is justly reserved for
those whose industry and obedience have merited so valuable a testi-
mony of tlieir master's approbation, See John xiv, 21.
A physical impossibility of discovering, at present, certain obscure
truths, forms the veil by which they are ellectually concealed from our
view. In order to form a perfect judgment of the material sun, it is
necessary, in the first place, to take a near survey of it : but this can-
not possibly be done with bodies of a Uke constitution with ours. The
same may be said of the Father of lights. God, as a spiritual Sun,
enlightens, even now, the souls of the just : but while they continue im-
prisoned in tenements of clay, their views of his matchless glory must
necessarily be indistinct, since they can only "behold him through a
glass darkly," 1 Cor. xiii, 12. Hence we argue with St. Paul, that as
spii'itual things are spiritually discerned, the natural man can never truly
comprehend and embrace them, but in proportion as he becomes spirit-
ually minded by regeneration.
The wise Author of our existence initiates us not immediately into the
mysteries which lie concealed under many of our doctrines, for tlie very
same reason that a mathematician conceals the most abstruse parts of.
his science from the notice of lus less intelligent pupils. If a preceptor
THE rORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 227
should affect to bring children acquainted with all the difficulties of alge-
bra, before they had passed through the first rules of arithmetic, such
an attempt would deservedly be looked upon as ridiculous and vain.
And is it not equally absurd to expect that the profoundest mysteries of
the Gospel should be opened to us, before we have properly digested
its introductory truths, or duly attended to its lowest precepts ?
The Almighty will Bever perform a useless work, nor ever afibrd an
unseasonable discovery. For the practice of solid piety, it is by no
means necessary that we should be permitted to fathom the depth of
every spiritual myster}% It is enough tliat fundamental truths are re-
vealed, with suflicient perspicuity, to produce in us that faith which is
the mother of charity. When the Gospel has proposed to us the truths
which give rise to this humble faith, and presented us with such motives
as evidently lead to the most disinterested charity, it has then furnished
us with every thing we stand in need of to work out for ourselves a glo-
rious salvation. The followers of Christ are required to tread in the
steps of their Master, and not deeply to speculate upon the secret things
of his mvisible kingdom.
If a clear knowledge of the mysterious side of our doctrines is no
more necessary to man in his present state, than an acquaintance witii
every thing that respects the art of printing is necessar}'^ to a cliild wjio
is studying the alphabet ; why then do we peevishly complain of the
sacred writers, for not having thrown hght sufficient upon some particu-
lar points to satisfy an inordinate curiosity ? Our scruples on this head
should be silenced by the constant declarations ot" those very writers, that
the time of perfection is not yet arrived ; that they themselves were
acquainted but in part with the mysteries of the kingdom ; and that the
language of mortality is unsuitable to the sublimity of Divine things.
The sea has its vmfathomable abysses, and an extent unknown to the
most experienced navigators : but notwithstanding all this uncertainty,
the merchant is perfectly contented, if he can but glide securely over
its surface to the port for which he is bound.
If we are placed here in a state of probation, it is reasonable that our
understanding, as well as our will, should be brought to the trial. But
how shall the Almighty proceed to make proof either of the self suf-
ficiency, or the diffidence of our understanding ? No happier method
could certainly be adopted than that of pointing us to such truths as are
partly manifest and partly concealed, that we may search them out
^vith diligence, if there be a possibility of comprehending them ; or, if
placed above the highest stretch of our faculties, expect with patience a
future revelation of them.
To acquire and manifest dispositions of a tmly Divine nature, is pos-
sible only mider a reUgious economy, whose doctrines are in some
degree mysterious, and whose morality has something in it painful to
human nature. Wh)' then do those persons who afiect to be wiser than
their neighbours, universally take ofl^ence at such a religion ? If a mys-
terious veil is thrown over the operations of n.ature and the Avorkings of
Providence, why should we expect the more wondcrfid operations of
grace to be laid unreservedly open to ever}' eye ? Philosopliy, it is pre-
sumed, will not dare thus foolishly to destroy the rules of analogy.
Humility is necessary to the perfection of our understanding no less than
228 THE POKTRAIT Ol' ST. PAUL.
sagacity and penetration, on which account God is pleased to bring our
humility to the test. And this lie does by discovering to us so much of
truth as may enable us to recognize it on its first appearance ; at the same
time, permitting the objects of faith to be surrounded \vith difficulties
sufficient to leave room for the exercise of that humble confidence in his
veracity, and that true poverty of" spmt which pliilosophers are pleased
to hold up as just objects of ridicule. Sound knowledge, however, and
unaffected humihty, will always keep pace with each other. Hence that
memorable confession of Socrates, " All that I know is, that I know
notliing." And hence that remarkable declaration of St. Paul, "If any
man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he
ought to know."
It is impossible that any thing should have a greater tendency to keep
man at a distance from God, than that arrogant self sufficiency with
which modern free thinkers are usually puffed up. This unhappy dis-
position must be totally subdued before we can come to the fountain head
of pure intelhgence, James i, 5. And to efiect this, the Ahnighty per-
mits our understanding to be embarrassed and confounded, till it is con-
strained to bow before his supreme wisdom, in acluiowledgment of its
own imbecility. But it is always with the utmost difficulty, and not till after
a thousand vain devices have been practised, that human nature can be
forced into this state of self abasement. Here Socrates and St. Paul may
be regarded as happy companions, experiencing, in common, that sub-
missive meekness, and that profound humility, which are so terrible to
many professors of wisdom. And it is but reasonable that the piety of
the one, and the philosophy of the other, should have been established
upon the basis of those rare virtues wliich formed the ground of the fol-
lowing address from Christ to his Father : " 1 thank thee, O Father !
Lord of heaven and-riarth, because thou hast hidden these things from
the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes," Matt, xi, 25.
It becomes us so much the more to moderate the sallies of an impa-
tient curiosity, with respect to truths of a mysterious nature, since Christ
himself has given us an example of the obedience due to the following
apostolic precept : — " Let no man think of himself more highly than he
ought to think ; but let him think soberly, according as God hath dealt
to every man the measure of faith," Rom. xii, 3. This condescending
Saviour was content, as Son of man, to remaui hi the humble ignorance
of which we speak. If, in order to have satisfied liis curiosity with
respect to the day of judgment, he had attemi)ted to explore the secret
counsels of the Almighty, there can be no doubt but his gracious Father
would have admitted him into that impenetralDle sanctuary. But he
rather chose to leave among his Ibllowers an examjile of the most per-
fect respect and resignation to the will of that Father.
AVliat was said by St. Paul concerning heresies, may, with propriety,
be applied to that obscurity which accompanies the doctrmes of the
Gospel. " There must be heresies among you, that tliey which are ap-
[iroved may be made manifest," 1 Cor. xi, 19. Mons. de Voltaire, who
saw not any utility in the proof here mentioned by the apostle, was
accustomed to censure revelation, because the doctrines it proposes are
incapable of such incontestable evidence as mathematical problems. He
considered liot that fines, circles, and triangles, falling innnediately under
THK PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 229
the senses, are subjects of investigation peculiarU' suited to the natural
man. He recollected not that many of Euclid's demonstrations are as
incomprehensible to the greater part of mankind, as the mysteries of our
holy religion are incomprehensible to the generality of philosophers.
And lastly, he perceived not that, if all men were to pique themselves
upon their skill in mathematics, and were equally interested in the pro-
portions of circles, squares, and triangles, as in those relations which
subsist between fallen man and an incomprehensible God, there woidd
be excited, among ignorant mathematicians, as many warm disputes as
are continually arising among ill-histructed Christians.
The justness of these observations will become more apparent, if we
consider the importance of that virtue, which is called, in Scripture lan-
guage, " the obedience of faith," Rom. xvi, 26. Man originally suffered
iiimself to be seduced with the hope of wonderful effects to be produced
by the fruit of a mysterious tree ; founding his frail hope upon the simple
declaration of the tempter. God, in order to humble the soul, is pleased
to restore us through the hope of powerful effects to be produced by the
truths of a mysterious revelation ; a sweet hope, whose only basis is the
simple declaration of the God of truth. And it is undoubtedly reasonable,
in every respect, that the cause of our restoration should be thus directly
opposed to the cause of our fall. The obedience that is unattended with
difficulties, can never be regarded as a reasonable proof of our fidelity
to God. Had he merely commanded us to believe tliat "the whole is
greater than a part," or that " two and two make four ;'' in such case no
room would have been left for a reasonable distriliiition of rewards and
punishments. The Deity could not possibly have been disobeyed, since
we can no more refuse our assent to these manifest truths, than we can
deny the existence of the sun, wliile we are rejoicing in his meridian
brightness. It appears, therefore, perfectly necessary that every tnith,
proposed to the faith of man in his probationary state, should have an
obscure as well as a luminous side, that it may leave place for the mature
deliberation, and, of consequence, for the merit or demerit of those who
are called to " tlic obedience of faith."
To desire a revelntion without any obscurity, is to desire a day without
night, a summer without winter, a sky without a cloud. And what should
we gain by such an exchange ? Or rather, what should we not lose, if
tiiose intentional obscurities, which conceal some parts of celestial truth,
should be as needful to man in his present situation, as those clouds which
frequently deform the face of the heavens are beneficial to the earth ?
The faith which is unaccompanied with any thing mysterious, no more
merits the name of faith than the tranqtiillity of a man, who has never
been in the way of danger, deserves the name of braver}'. An expression
of our Lord's to one of his doubting disciples is sufficient to throw the
most convincing light upon this matter : " Thomas," said he, " because
thou hast seen me, thou hast behoved ;" but what recompense or praise
can be due to such a faith ? " Blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed," .lohn xx, 29.
To conclude : What occasion would there be for the exercise of either
wisdom or virtue, were the one only good path presented so clearly to
our view that it would be difficult to make choice of any other ? Or to
what good purpose could true philosophy serve, which has no other use
280 THE I'ORTllAIT OF ST. PAUL. -
except that of teaching us to regulate our principles, and govern our
actions, in a manner more suited tO'the perfection of our nature, than is
customary witli those who arc led by prejudice and passion ?
From all these observations it may justly be argued, that to insist upon
having religious doctrines without obscurity, and a revelation without
mystery, is to destroy, the design of the Supreme Being, who hath placed
us here in a state of trial. It is to confound the goal with the course,
the conflict with the triumph, and earth with heaven. Nay more : it is
to confound the creature with the Creator. That which is finite must
never hope to comprehend the heights and depths of infinity. Arch-
angels themselves, though endued with inconceivable degrees of wisdom
and purity, will continually find unfathomable abysses in the Divine
nature. And if so, is it not to abjure good sense, as well as revelation,
to turn our backs upon the temple of truth, because there is found in it
" a most holy place," where the profane are never suffered to enter, and
the furniture of which even true worshippers can neither clearly explain
nor fully comprehend?
CHAPTER XIV.
In answer to the grand objection of philosophers against the doctrines of
the Gospel, it is argued, that the advantages of the redemption are extended,
hi different degrees, to all manhind, through every period of the world.
As sophistical reasoners had a hundred objections to propose against
the doctrine of Socrates, who was a true philosopher, so the philosophers
of this age are industriously framing objections to the doctrines of that
Gospel which unerring Wisdom has amiounced to the world. To deter-
mine, whether or not those ol)jcctions are just and unanswerable, we
shall here consider that which appears to be the most weighty in the
balance of those two companions in error, Mons. de Voltaire and J. J.
Rousseau. " If your doctrine of the redemption," say they, " is really as
important as you represent it, why has it been preached only for these
last eighteen centuries? If it was of so much consequence to mankind,
God, without doubt, would have pubUshed it sooner, and more univer-
sally."*
Answer. The doctrine of the redemption was not primarily neces-
sary to mankind : since there was a time when unoffending man stood
in no greater need of a Redeemer, than a healthy person stands in need
of a physician. At that time natural religion was suitable to the state of
man, and the doctrines of Deism were the spiritual food of his soul. But,
as medicine is not less necessary than nutriment to a sick |)erson, so
fallen man stands in need of the Gospel, as well as of natural religion.
♦^ Mons, de Voltaire, in his Philosophical Dictionary, attacks Christianity, under
the name of Mohammodanism, in tiie following words: — " If it had been necessary
to the world, it would have existed from the beginning of the world ; it would
have existed in every place. The Mohammedan religion therefore cannot be
essentially necessary to man." J. J. Rousseau was perfectly of the same opinion.
" 1 deny," says this writer, in his Emilius, " the necessity of receiving revelation,
because this pretended obligation is incompatible with the justice of God. Should
there be found in the universe a single person to whom Christ had never been
preached, the objection would be as forcible on the part of that neglected indi-
viduali as for the fourth part of the human race."
THK PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 231
And as strong nourishment would be a species of poison to a man ener-
vated by a raging fever, so the tenets of Theism, administered alone to a
siimer, who bums with the disorderly fervours of pride, must inevitably
prove fatal to the health of his soul. Thus the presumption of some
philosophers is incretised by the doctrines of Deism, as the fever of a
debilitated patient is redoubled by those very cordials which would increase
the strength of a vigorous person. And this may serve as a proof, that
the natural religion of sinless man is as little adapted to man in his cor-
nipt estate, as the sweet familiarity of an affectionate infimt is suitable to
the character of a daring and disobedient son.
It is necessar\- here to observe, that there are two kinds of Deism;
that of the humble sinner, who is not yet acquainted with the Gospel,
and that of the presumptuous reasoner, who rejects it with contempt.
Tlie Centurion Cornelius, who lived in the practice of piety before he
was perfectly acquainted with Christ, and the penitent publican alluded
to by our Lord, were Deists of the first class, and such as might well be
esteemed the younger brothers of Christians. The second class is made
up of those Theists who trample revelation under their feet, and who may
properly be called the presumptuous Pharisees of the present day. It is
the haughty Deism of these men that a false philosophy would substitute
in the place of the Gospel. The judicious author of The New Theolo-
gical Dictionary has characterized these two kinds of Deism with an
accuracy peculiar to himself. " Deism," says he, " was once on the
high way from Atheism to Christianity ; but to-day it is usually found
upon the road from Christianity to Atheism."
To assert that the doctrine of the redemption has been anno\mced for
no more than eighteen centuries, is to suppose there can be no appear-
ance of light till the sun has risen above the horizon. So soon as the
work of redemption became necessaiy, in that very day it was announced
to man. When our first parents had received from their merciful Judge
the sentence that condenmed them to miseiy and death, he immediately
gave them a promise, that in some future day a repairer of their evils
should be born of woman, who should "bruise the head of the serpent,"
that is, who should crush, at once, all the power of the tempter, and the
pride of the sinner. In consequence of this gracious covenant, which
was, indeed, the first promulgation of the Gospel, God implanted in man
an interior principle of redemption, a seed of regenerating grace, which
should, m the end, spring up to everlasting life. Now this principle was
nothing less than a ray from that living Word, which was afterward to
be visibly united witli our nature, in order to raise man from his disho-
nourable fall, and, finally, to procure for him a state superior to that
which he originally enjoyed. Nothing can be more explicit upon this
point than the following declaration of St. John : " In Him [the living
Word J was life ; and the life was the light of men. And the light shined
in darkness : and the darkness [in general] comprehended it not. This
was [however] the true light, which lighteth [more or less] every man
that Cometh into the world," J<jhn i, 4, 9. When, thcretbre, a conceited
free thinker superciliously exclaims, " If the doctrine of the redemption
had been necessary it would have been published in the earliest ages of
the world," such objection should serve as a manifest token of his igno-
rance in this matter, since that important doctrine was mercifully an-
232 THE PORTRAIT OP ST. PAUL.
noimccd to tlie \ery first offender. If that doctrine was aftenvard cor-
rupted by tradition ; if rebellious man began to exalt himself as his own
saviour; or if, through impatience, he set up false mediators, instead of
patiently expecting the fulfilment of Jehovah's promise : all this evidently
proves Ids extreme need of a Redeemer. In short, ii' the greater part
of the .Jewish nation rejected this Divine Saviour in the days of his out-
ward manifestation, and if prejudiced Deists still continue to reject his
ortered assistance, all that Can be proved by their uni-elenting obstinacy
is the greatness of their gudt, and the depth of their depravity : just as
the conduct of a patient, who abuses his physician, suffices only to de-
monstrate the excess of his delirium.
Several reasons may be here produced, which might have engaged-
the Father of mercies to defer the external manifestation of our promised
Redeemer for a period of four thousand years.
1. It is probable, that as every thing is discovered to operate gradually
in the natural world, the same order might be established in the moral
world. Even since the time of Christ's outward manifestation, the
influence of his redeeming power has but gradually discovered itself m
our yet benighted world. He himself compared the Gospel to a little
leaven, which spreads itself by slow degrees over a bulky mass of meal ;
and to a small seed, from which a noble plant is produced. To this we
may add, that a portion of time, which appears long and tedious to us,
appears wholly different in the e3'es of the everlasting I AM, before
whom a thousand years are no more than a fleeting day.
2. If, immediately after the commission of sin, God had sent forth
his Son into the world to raise us from our fall, before we had expe-
rienced the melancholy effects of that fall ; such a hasty act, instead of
manifesting the perfections of the Deity, would have drawn a veil of
obscurity between us and them. The Divine mercy, discovered in
Jesus Christ, might then have appeared as insignificant to us as to the
arrogant Deist, who, notwithstanding the crimes with which the world
has been polluted for near six thousand years, and in spite of those
which he himself has added to the prodigious sum, has yet the audacity
to assert, that there is no necessity for a Redeemer, that man is good in
his present state, and that he may conduct himself honourably through
it, without the assistance of regenerating grace. Hence it appears, that
the outward manifestation of the Messiah was wisely deferred to a period
of time far removed from the commencement of the fall.
3. While the visible manifestation of Jesus was delayed, all things
were put in a state of due preparation for so great an event. And in
the meantime the seed of regeneration, which was received by man,
after God had pronounced the first evangehcal promise, was as sufficient
to save eveiy penitent sinner, as the dawn of day is sufficient to direct
every erring traveller.
This merits an explanation. The first man, to whom the promise of
redemption was made, contained in himself the whole of his posterity :
and this promise, wonderfully powerful, as being the " word of God,"
Heb. iv, 12, had an indescribable effect upon the whole human race,
implanting in man a seed of regeneration, a Logos, a reason, a con-
science, a light, in short, a good principle, which, in every sincere
inquirer after truth, has been nourished by the grace of God, and
TItE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 233
seconded by the pious traditions of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evan-
gelists, or true philosophers. Unhappy is it for tliose, who, stifling in
themselves every- gracious sentiment, liave treated this internal principle
as the Jews once treated their condescending Lord, and as obstinate
sinners still continue to treat a preached Gospel. If such are not saved
it is not through the want of an offered Saviour, but because they have
wilfully shut their eyes against the twihght, the opening dawn, or the
meridian brightness of the Gospel day.
Nothing can be more unreasonable than the objection to which we
now return an answer. To argue that God would be unjust, if having
given a Saviour to the world, he should not reveal that Saviour in an
equal degree to all mankind, is to argue that God is unjust, because,
having given a sun to the earth, he has not ordained that sun equally to
enlighten and cheer every part of the globe. Again : to hisinuate that
Christ cannot properly be regarded as the Saviour of mankind, because
innumerable multitudes of men are not even acquainted with his name,
is to insinuate that the sun is utterly useless to the deaf, because they
have never heard the properties of that sun described, and to the blind,
because they have never seen his cheering beams. Lastly : to con-
clude that the Gospel is false, because it has not rapidly spre^ itself over
the whole world, or because it is not observed to operaJJ|n a more
hasty manner the happy changes it is said to produce — thostotargue, is
to reason as inconclusively as a man who should say, Tiie tree that pro-
duces Jesuits' bark is an insignificant and useless tree : for, (1.) It grows
not in every country. (2.) It has not always been known. (3.) There
are persons in the country where it grows, who look upon it as no ex-
traordinary thing : and, (4.) Many, who have apparently given this
medicine a proper trial, have found it imattended with those salutary
effects so generally boasted of.
Turning the arguments of our philosophers against their oAvn system,
we aftiiTn, that the Messiah was manifested m a time and place pecu-
liarly suited to so great an event. With respect to the time, he lived
and died when the human species had arrived at the utmost pitch of
refinement and learning. Had he appeai'cd two or three thousand years
sooner, he must have visited the world in its infant state, while ignorance
and barbarity reigned among the nations: but in the days of Augustus
and Tiberius, mankind inay be said to have reached the highest degree
of maturity, with respect to knowledge and civilization. Now, as it is
necessary that he who bears testimony to any memorable transaction
should be a man and not a child, so it is equally necessaiy that Christ
should have appeared in the most polished period of the world, as the
one Mediator between God and man.
Deists sometimes tell us that the force of historic evidence is greatly
diminished by lapse of time, as a taper placed at too great a distance
loses much of its brightness. If Christ, then, had offered himself a ran-
som for all many ages sooner than unerring Wisdom had ordained, the
incredulous might have urged that the history of a miraculous event,
reported to have happened in so remote a period of time, was most
probably corrupted by uncertain tradition, and rendered unworthy of
credit.
On the other hand, if the accomplishment of the promise had been
334 THE PORTRAIT OF ST, PAUL.
delayed some thousands of years longer, the faith and patience of be-
lievers would have been called to a proof incompatible with the weakness
of humanity. And the pious might have said, concerning the first
coming of Christ, what they have long ago tauntingly spoken of his
second : ^' Where is the promise of his conndng ? For since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the begimiing of the
creation," 2 Pet. iii, 4.
What is here observed with respect to the age in which the Messiah
was cut off, is no less true of the season, the day, and the hour. He
offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of the people in the noonday, at
the solemn feast of the passover, and at that season of the year which
naturally invited the dispersed Jews to visit the holy city. The place
was, like the time, peculiarly adapted to such an event ; a coimtry in
which the promise of Clirist's coming had been frequently repeated.
Moreover, he became obedient unto death in the time predicted by the
prophets ; before a people who possessed the oracles of God ; under the
eyes of the high priest ; before Herod the king, together with the grand
council of the nation ; before Pilate, who was lieutenant of the greatest
prince on earth ; at the gates of Jeitisalem, in the centre of Judea, and
nearly in tl^centre of the then known world. Thus the external mani-
festation o||Kr glorious Redeemer may be compared to a sun, whose
rising wa» preceded by a dawn, which benignly opened ujion the first
inhabitants of the earth ; and whose setting is followed by a lovely twi-
light, which must necessarily continue till he shall again ascend above
our horizon, to go down no more. In this point of view the Scriptures
uniformly I'epresent the sacrifice of Christ. St. Paul expressly declares
that, " by one offering, he hath perfected for ever them that are sancti-
fied :" that is, all those in every nation who fear God and work right-
eousness, Heb. X, 14 ; Acts x, 35. We argue, therefore, with this
apostle, that " as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life," Rom. v, 16.
From these observations we conclude, First, That the Gospel has
been more or less clearly announced ever since the time in which a
Redeemer became necessary to man. Secondhj, That Jesus Christ
openly manifested himself in a time most proper for such a discovery.
Thirdly, That the work of redemption is as necessary to manlvind as the
assistance of medicine is necessary to those Avho are stnaggling under
some dangerous disease. Fourthly, That an explicit knowledge of the
Redeemer and his salvation is as desirable to those who feel themselves
ruined by sin, as the certain knowledge of a physician, possessed of
sovereign remedies, is consoling to the patient who apprehends his life
in imminent danger. Fifthly, As languishing infants may be restored
by the medicines of a physician with whom they are totally unacquainted,
so Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, provided they walk according to
the light they enjoy, are undoubtedly saved by Jesus Christ, thougli they
have no clear conception of the astonishing means employed to secure
them from perdition. And lastly. That the grand argument advanced
against the Gospel by Mons. de Voltaire and J. J. Rousseau, is abun-
dantly more specious than solid.
THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL. 235
CHAPTER XV.
Refections upon the danger to which modem Deists expose themselves.
In refuting the objection of superficial moralists, proposed in the pre-
ceding chapter, we may, })erhaps, have afforded them ground for another,
full as specious and solid.
Objectio:n. " If it be allowed that in every age salvation has been
extended to all the true worshippers of God, whether they have been
pious Jews, such as Joseph, Hezekiah, and Josiah : just men among the
Gentiles, such as Melchisedec and Aristides ; or heathen pliilosophefs
who have walked in the fear of God, such as Pj'thagoras, Socrates, and
Plato : and if these virtuous men have been saved without subscribing
to the doctrines of the Gospel, why may not Deists and modern philo-
sophers be permitted to enjoy the same salvation while they reject those
doctrines?"
Akswer. There are three grand dispensations of grace. Under the
fii'st every heathenish and unenlightened nation must be ranked ; the
Jews under the second ; and Christians under the third, which is a dis-
pensation abundantly more perfect than either of the former. The
tbllowers of Mohammed may be classed with modern Jews, since they
are Deists of the same rank, and have equally deceived themselves
with respect to that great Prophet who came f6r the restoration of
Israel.
Those Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, who " fear God and work
righteousness," are actually saved by Jesus Christ. Christ is the Truth
and the Light ; and these sincere worshippers, receiving all the rays of
truth with which they are visited, afford sufficient proof that they would
affectionately admire and adore the Sun of righteousness himself, were
the intervening mists removed by wlucli he is concealed from tiieir view.
But it is wholly different with those who, beholding this Divine Sun, as
he is revealed in the Gospel, determinately close their eyes against him,
and contemptuously raise a cloud of objections to veil him, if possible,
from the view of others. Every virtuous heathen has manifested a love
for truth, while many of our philosophers, in tjie pride of their hearts,
reject and despise it. The former wrought out their salvation, though
favoured only with the glimmering dawn of an evangelical day : the
latter, surrounded with the meridian brightness of that day, are anxiously
seeking the shadow) coverts of uncertainty and error. The former were
saved according to that apostolic declaration : " Glory, honour, and
peace, to every man that worketh good, to the [Christian and the] Jew
first, and also to the Gentile : for there is no respect of persons with
God," Rom. ii, 10, 11. And of this number was the Apostle Paul, who
"obtained mercy" because he was ignorantly a persecutor of the truth,
livuig, at the same time, " in all good conscience before God," 1 Tim. i,
13. Nor can it be doubted, but the same grace with which St. Paid was
visited in these circumstances, will, in various degrees, illumine and
purify every soul that resembles him in uprightness and sincerity. The
latter will be condemned by virtue of the following declarations : " This
is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil," John iii, 19.
236 THE T'ORTRATT OF ST. PAUL.
" God will render unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the
tnith, indignation and \vralli, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of
man that doeth evil, of the [Christian and the] Jew first, and also of the
Gentile," Rom. ii, 5, 9.
From these citations we may infer, that, in several proportions, the
salvation of virtuous heathens wUl difler as greatly from the salvation of
faithful Christians, as the brilliancy of an agate is different from that of
a diamond. " Many mansions," and different degrees of glory, are pre-
pared " in the house of our Father," John xiv, 1. "There is. one glory
of the sun, and another gloiy of the moon, and another glory of the
stars ; for one star differeth fi'om another star in glory. So also will it
be in the resurrection of the dead, when God will render unto every
man according to his works," 1 Cor. xv, 41.
The highest degrees of glory are reserved by the righteous Judge of
all the earth for the most faithful of his servants. The honourable
privilege of being seated at the right hand of Christ will be conferred
upon those who have trodden in their Master's footsteps, through the
narrowest and most difficult paths of resignation and obedience. On
the other hand, God will display the most tenible effects of his right-
eous anger upon those who have trampled under foot the greatest and
most frequent oflers of Divine grace, according to that exclamation of
the apostle, " How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ?"
Heb. ii, 3; since thus obstinately to despise the highest degrees of glory
which may be attained under the Gospel, and daringly to brave the
threatenings denounced against those who reject that Gospel, discovers
in the heart a cold indifference to real virtue, together with a sovereign
contempt for the Divine Author of it.
As true virtue, like a beautiful plant, is continually rising to a state of
maturity ; so tme philosophy is constantly aspiring after the highest
attainable degi'ees of wisdom and purity. If any man neglects those
means which conduce to the perfection of virtue, when they are once
proposed to him, he gives evident proof that he has neither that instinct
of virtue, nor that true philosophy, which cannot but choose the most
excellent end, together with the surest means of obtaining it. What
would our philosophers say to a man, who, affecting to aspire after
riches, and being called to receive a large quantity of gold, should incon-
sistently refuse it in the following terms : " Many persons have been
rich enough with a little money to prevent them from stannng, and I
have no inclination to exceed them in point of fortune !" The objection
proposed in this chapter is founded upon a like sophism, and amounts
but to an equal argument : " Jews and virtuous heathens have receiv^ed
assistance sufficient effectually to secure their salvation, and we have
not presumption enough to desire any extraordinary advantage above
them."
It is diflicult to form a just idea of the conceitedness of those boasted
moralists, who despise ever^' help afforded by the Gospel, because some
heathens, without such assistance, have been acceptable to God. We
may compare it to the supposed self sufficiency of a contemptible sub-
altern officer, who, being presented with a more honourable commission
from his prince, should reject it, and cry out, " The commission is false,
and they who present it are no better than deceivers. I have no anxiety
THE PORIUAIT OF ST. PAUL. 237
to quit my present post. I aspire after no greater honours than those I
possess. Many thousands have faithfully served his mnjesty in the
capacity of subalterns : nay, common soldiers themselves have received
testimonies of his royid approbation : and why should my services aflbrd
him less satisfaction than theirs '?" Were a corporal, in my hearing,
thus to excuse his rejection of a monarch's offered kindness, I should
suppose either that he had no just conceptions of the honour intended
hun, or that he was withheld from accc})ting that honour, by motives too
unworthy to be avowed. But this excuse would be insolent us well as
pitiful, had the terms of the commission run thus : " Either serve your
prince with fidelity in the post to which he exalts you, or expect to be
treated with the utmost severity."
Now such is the case with all those who obstinately reject the Gospel,
and perseveringly trample under foot the richest offers of luimerited
grace. They cither reject the truths of revelation through haughtiness
of spirit, or they are held back from embracing them through the secret
gratification of some inordinate appetite. Observe here the gi-ound of
those memorable declarations of our blessed Lord : " Preach the Gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ;
but he that believeth not, shall be damned," Mark xvi, 15, 16. He that
believeth not the Son, [after hearing him evangelically announced,] shall
not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him. He is condemned
already : for every one that doedi evil hateth the light [of the Gospel,]
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved," Jolm iii,
18, 36.
Upon this principle, as conformable to experience as to sound reason,
the Gospel is not absolutely rejected, except by those who are cither
visibly corrupted, as Pilate and Felix, or secretly depraved, as Judas
and Caiaphas. And it was to persons of this character that Christ ad-
dressed himself in the following terms : " How can ye believe, \vho
receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh
from God only ?" John v, 44. " If imy man will do the will of him that
sent me, [and fojlow the light that is imparted to him,] he shall know of
the doctrme, whether it be of («od, or whether I speak of myself,"
John vii, 17. Hence, when any who have been consecrated to (^hrist
by baptism, are seen withdrawing from the footstool of their Master to
the schools of philosophy, or, at least, making no advances in true
holiness ; we may rest assured that their decline is caused, or their
spiritual growth prevented, by the secret indulgence of some vicious
inclination. These philosophizing morahsls, and these lukewarm dis-
ciples, maybe compared to the fruit that falls before it has attained to the
perfection of its species : examine such fruit, and you will find, under a
beautiful appearance, eitlier a destructive worm, or loathsome rottenness.
Such is the apostatizmg Deist under the most specious forms he can
possibly assume.
When J. J. Uousscau expressed himself in the following terms : "If
God judges of faith by works, then to be a good man is to be a real
believer ;" he was not tar beside the truth, provided that by a good man,
he intended one who fives in temperance, justice, and the fear of < «od ;
since every man, in whom these virtues are discoverable, is assuredly
principled in the true faith. Such a one is a real believer, according to
238 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
that economy of grace, under which Job, Josiah, and Socrates, shone
out to the glory of God ; men, who either possessed principles of faith,
or whose best actions arc no more to be admired than those of our
domestic animals.
This writer had less distinct views of truth, when he added, " The
true Christian is the just man ; unbelievers are the wicked :" since there
are just men who are not yet Christians ; as there are studioas persons
who cannot yet be accounted profound scholars. Moreover, there are
many, who, like the Centurion Cornelius, do not yet beheve the Gospel,
because they have never heard that Gospel explained with precision and
fidelity ; and surely such deserve not to be termed absolutely unjust men.
The latter proposition approaches indeed nearer the truth, " unbelievers
are the wicked :" yet this is false ; except the term unhdievcr be taken
for one who obstinately disbeheves the Gospel, since a good man, who
receives the first part of the apostles' creed, may yet, like Nathanael and
Nicodemus, be so forcibly held back by involuntary prejudice, with
respect to the other parts of the same creed, that he may fluctuate long
between truth and error. It is by propositions so vague and insidious
that our philosophers delude themselves and beguile their disciples.
" But," replies J. J. Rousseau, " have we power to believe, or not to
believe ? Is the not being able to argue well imputed to us as a crime ?
Conscience informs us not what we are to think, but what we are to do :
it teaches us not to reason well, but to act well." And are all the facul-
ties of man, except his conscience, to be considered as utterly useless
with regard to this important matter ? Let it, howcAer, be granted that
a wicked and haughty person has it not in his power to believe ; yet it
is highly necessary that he should fear the truth, so long as he gives
himself up either to actions or inclinations that are manifestly evil.
Thus, the conscious robber can never overcome his fear of justice so
long as he is disposed to continue his iniquitous practices. But if, after
making full restitution, he should become sincerely upright, maintaining a
conscience void of offence toward God and toward man, he will tremble
no more at the idea of judges, tribunals, or executions.
If it be asked, what secret vice it was that would not suffer so honest
a man as J. J. Rousseau to embrace the Gospel ? Without searching
into the anecdotes of his life, we may rest satisfied with the discoveiy
he has made of his own heart in a single sentence : " What can be
more transporUng to a noble soul than the pride of virtue !" Such was
the pride which made him vainly presume that he had power suflicient
to conquer himself, without invokmg the assistance of God ; and by
which he was encouraged to assert that the doctrines of the Gospel were
such as " no sensible man could either conceive or admit." Such was
the " virtuous pride" which would not suffer the Pharisees to receive the
humiliating trutlis of the Gospel, and wliich filled the heart of Caiaphas
witli jealousy and hatred against Christ.
There is no species of pride more insolent than that which gives rise
to the following language : " It is asserted that 'God so loved the world,
as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.' These tidings, whether they be
true or false, are highly acceptable to many; but, for my own part, I
openly declare, that I reject with contempt the idea of such a favour.
TIIE PORTllAIT OF ST. PAUL. 239
I read with attention those writings which tend to untold the mysteries
of nature, but resolve never to turn over those authors who vainly attempt
to estabhsh the truth of the Gospel. This subject, though it has occupied
the thoughts, and engaged the pens of inquiring students for these
seventeen himdred years,. I shall ever regard as unworthy my attention.
I leave it to the vulgar, who arc easily persuaded of its importance.
My virtues are suflicient to ex];>iate my crimes, and on these 1 will reso-
lutely depend, as my sole mediators before God." If this be imphcitly
the language of every man who obstinately rejects the doctrines of the
Gospel, what heights of presumption, iuid what depths of depravity,
must lie open, in the souls of such, to the eye of Omniscience ! Reason
and revelation agree to condemn them. Behold the ground of their
sentence : " Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that
himibleth hunself shall he exalted : for God resisteth the proud, and
giveth grace to the humble," Luke xiv, 11 ; 1 Pet. v, 5.
Reason itself is sutlicient to discover that, before the Supreme Being,
nothing can appear more detestable than the pride of a degenerate and
ungrateful creature. And if so, the Deists of Socrates' time must have
been far less culpable than those of the present day. The former, con-
scious of the uncertainty with which they were encompassed, made use
of every help they could procure, in the pursuit of truth, with unwearied
assiduity. The latter, presuming upon their own sufliciency, decide
against doctrines of the utmost importance, without impartially consider-
ing the evidences produced in their favour. The former, by carefully
examining every system of morality proposed to their deliberation, dis-
covered a candour and liberality becoming those who were anxiously
" feeling after God, if haply they might fmd him," Acts xvii, 27. The
latter, by condemning revelation, ^\ithout calmly attending to the argu-
ments of its advocates, manifest a degree of prejudice that would be
unpardonable in a judge, but which becomes execrable ui a criminal
who is pressed by the strongest reasons to search out the truth.
Plato, in the sixth book of his Rej)ublic, introduces his master marking
out the dispositions necessary to a virtuous num. "Let us begin," says
Socrates, " by recounting what qualities are necessary to him who would
ofle day become an honest man and a true philosophei*. The first quality
is the love of truth, which he ought to seek after in every thing and by
every mean ; true philosophy being absolutely incompalible with the
spirit of delusion. He who has a sincere desire to obtain w isdom, can-
not confine liimself to things that are here below, of which he can
acquire but an uncertain laiowlcdgc. He is born for truth, and he tends
to it with an ardour which nothing is able to restrain." Ye who oppose
philosophy to revelation, and reject, without thoroughly investigating,
the doctrines of the Gospel, can you be said to discover aii attachment
to truth as sincere as that of Socrates ? l)o ye not rather esteem that
an excessive fondness tor truth, or even a dangerous species of enthu-
siasm, which the wisest heathens have looked upon as the first disposi-
tion requisite to an honest man ?
Plato and his master, who scrupulously acknowledged the truth
wherever they discovered it, were assuredly in a state of" acceptance
before God, without an explicit acquaintance with Jesus Christ : for
where the Almighty hath not strewed, there will he never expect to
240 THE PORTRAIT OF ST. PAUL.
gather ; and where he hath scattered only the first fruits of the Gospel,
there he never will require that precious fruit which he expects to be
produced by the highest truths of revelation. Thus the husbandman
is content to reap nothing but barley in a field where nothing but barley
has been sown : but if, after sowing the same field with the purest wheat,
it should produce only tares, with a few scattered ears of barley, he would,
undoubtedly, express a degree of surprise and displeasure, at having his
reasonable expectation so strangely disappointed.
In the New Testament we find a remarkable parable to this purpose,
where mankind are considered as the domestics of God's immense
household. In this parable, the Almighty is represented as collecting
his servants together, and confiding to the care of each a separate loan,
to be employed for the mutual interest of the covenanting parties. To
one of his domestics he imparts five talents ; to another two ; while
the third has no more than a single talent committed to his charge : but
all are required so to occupy, that their gains may be proportionate to
the several sums intrusted to their fidelity. Now, if the Christian, with
five talents of spiritual knowledge, acquires no advantage over the Jew,
who had received but two, is it not evident that he has acted the part of
an unfaithful servant ? Nay, he is to be esteemed even more unprofitable
than the heathen, w ho suffers his single talent to lie unimproved ; since
amidst all his trifling gains he has slothfully concealed three valuable
talents, while the other has buried but one. But were the first and the
last to derive equal advantages from the disproportionate privileges per-
mitted them to enjoy, while the latter woidd be received as a good and
faithftil servant, the former might deservedly be treated with an unusual
degree of severity by his msulted Lord. This parable may assist us to
conceive that a philosopher, Avho is called by baptism to evangelical
perfection, and } et contents himself with practising the morality of a
heathen, has not, in reality, so much solid virtue as a sincere Deist bred
up in the bosom of Paganism.
Our progress in morality, like our advancement in science, is to be
estimated by considering the circumstances in which we are placed, and
the privileges we enjoy. A dramatic piece, composed by a child or a
negro, might be received with plaudits, which would justly be hissed off
the stage had it been produced by a Shakspeare or a Comeille. A
traveller who expresses his admiration at the address with which savages
manage a hatchet of stone, would express equal astonishment at the
wealcness of his countrymen, should he see them casting aside their axes
of iron, and felling their trees with ill-formed implements of flint.
Thus, after admiring the successful efforts of Socrates, who drew many
sacred truths liom the chaos of Paganism, how astonishing is it to behold
modern philosophers patching up a confused system of Deisticul mo-
rality, to be substituted in place of the subUmer doctrines and the purer
morality of the Gospel ! Wherever such retrograde reasoners are dis-
covered, their insignificant labours must be universally deplored by the
lovers of truth. But when these champions of false wisdom endeavour
to bury, under the ruins of Christianity, those important truths which
heathens themselves have formerly discovered, it is impossible to behold
their impious eflbrts without feeling all the warmth of an honest
indignation.
THE rOKTKAIT OF ST. VAVh. 241
We shall conclude this Essay hy transcribing a part of tliat ancient
testimony which was borne by Lactantius to the power ol" those doc-
trines for which \\c contend.
" 'J'hat wliich many have discovered, by the assistance of natural reli-
gion, to be their indispensable duty, but which they have never been
able either to practise themselves, or to sec exemplified in the conduct
of philosophers ; all this the sacred doctrines of the (rospel assist us to
perform, because that Gospel is wisdom in its highest excellence. How
shall philosophers persuade others, while they themselves continue in a
state of perplexity ? Or how shall they repress the passions of others,
while, by giving way to their own, they tacitly confess that nature, in
spite of all their eHurls, is still triumphant ? But daily experience testi-
fies how great an influence the ordinances of God have upon the heart.
Give me a passionate, shuiderous, implacable man ; and, through the
power of our Gospel, 1 will return him to you gentle as a lamb. Give
me an avaricious man, whose greediness of gain will sufler him to part
with nothing ; and I will return him to you so liberal, that he will give
away his money by haudtuls. Bring me a man who trembles at the
approach of pain and death ; ere long he shall look with contempt upon
crosses, tires, and even the bidl of Phalaris itself. Present me with a
debauchee, an adulterer, a man wholly lost to good manners ; you shall
shortly behold him an example of sobriety, uprightness, and continence.
Give me a cruel and blood-thirsty man ; his ferocious disposition shall
suddenly be succeeded by real clemency. Give me an unjust man, a
stupid person, an extravagant sinner ; you shall shortly behold him
scrupulously just, truly wise, and leading a life of imiocence. Such is
the power of heavenly wisdom, that it is no sooner shed abroad in the
heart, but, by a single efibrt, it chases away folly, the mother of sin.
To compass these invaluable ends, a man is under no necessity of paying
salaries to masters of philosophy, and passing whole nights in meditating
upon their works. Every necessary assistance is imparted without
delay, with ease, and free irom cost ; if there be not wanting an attentive
ear, and a heart desirous of wisdom. The sacred source to which we
point, is plenteous, overflowing, and open to all men ; the celestial light
we announce, indiscriminately rises upon all who open their eyes to
behold it.
" What philosopher has ever done so much ? Who among them is
able to perform such wonders? After having passed their lives in the
study of philosophy, it appears that they have neither bettered them-
selves nor others, when nature causes them any great resistance. 'I'heir
wsdom serves rather to cover, thai\ to eradicate their vices. Whereas
our Divine instructions [i. e. the doctrines of the Gospel,] so totally
change a man, that you would no longer know him for the same
person." {LacL Lib. iii, cap. 26.)
Vol. 111. 16
AN APPEAL
MATTER OF FACT AND COMMON SENSE
OR,
A RATIONAL DEMONSTRATION
MAN'S CORRUPT AND LOST ESTATE^
BY THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER,
VICAR OF NADEI.KY, SALOP.
Ve pompous puhh of Reason idolized,
And vilified .it once ; of Reason dead,
Then deified, as nionarclis were of old ,
Wrong not the Christian ; think not Reason yours ;
'Tis Reason our great Matter holds 6o dear ;
'TU Reason's injureil rislitj his wrath resents;
'Tis Reason's voice obey'd his glorious crown ;
To give lo.st Rea.son lil'c he pour'd his own ;
Believe, and show the reanon of a man;
Believe, and taste the pleasure of a God ;
Through Reason's wounds alone thy faith can die. — YouNO.
The Son of irian is come lo seek and to t>ave that which was lost. — Luke
TO THE PRINCIPAL INHABITANTS
PARISH OF MADELKY, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.
Gentlemkn, — You are no less entitled to my private labours than
the inferior class of my parishioners. As you do not choose to partake
with them of my evening instructions, I take the liberty to present
you with some of my morning meditations. May these well-meant
endeavours of my pen be more acceptable to you than those of my
tongue ! And may you carefully read in your closets what you
have, perhaps, inattentively heard in the church ! I appeal to the
Searcher of hearts that I had rather impart truth than receive tithes.
You kindly bestow the latter upon me ; grant me, I pray, the satisfaction
of seeing you favourably receive the former, from, gentlemen, your
affectionate minister and obedient servant,
J. Fletcher.
Madeley 1772.
CONTENTS OF APPEAL.
INTRODUCTION.
PART r.
The doctrine of man's corrupt and lost estate is stated at large in the words of
the propliets, apostles, and Jesus Christ ; and recapitulated in those of the
articles, homilies, and liturgy of the Church of England.
PART II.
Man is considered as an inhabitant of the natural world, and his fall is proved by
arguments deduced from the misery in which he is now undeniably involved ;
compared with the happiness of which we cannot help conceiving him pos-
sessed, when he came out of the hands of his gracious Creator.
A view of this misery in the following particulars, I. The disorders of the globe
we inhabit, and the dreadful scourges with which it is visited. II. The deplora-
ble and shocking circumstances of our birth. III. The painful and dangerous
travail of women. IV. The untimely dissolution of still-born, or new-born
children. V. Our natural uncleanliness, helplessness, ignorance, and naked-
ness. VI. The gross darkness in which we naturally are, both with respect to
God and a future state. VII. The general rebellion of the brute creation against
us. VIII. The various poisons that lurk in tiie animal, vegetable, and mineral
world, ready to destroy us. IX. The heavy curse of toil and sweat to which
we are liable; instances of which are given in the hard and dangerous labours
of the author's parishioners. X. The other innumerable calamities of life.
And, XI, the pangs of death.
PART III.
Man is considered as a citizen of the moral world, a fiec agent, accountable to his
Creator for his tempers and conduct ; and his fall is farther demonstrated by
arguments drawn from XII. His commission of sin. XIII. His omission of
duty. XIV. The triumphs of sensual appetites over his intellectual faculties.
XV. The corriiption of the powers that constitute a good head ; the understand-
ing, imagination, memory, and reason. XVI. The depravity of the powers
which form a good heart ; the will, conscience, and affections. XVII. His mani-
fest alienation from God. XVIII. His amazing disregard even of his nearest
relatives. XIX. His unaccountable unconcern about himself. XX. His de-
testable tempers. XXI. The general outbreaking of human corruption in all
individuals. XXII. The universal overflowing of it in all nations. Five ob-
jections answered. XXIII. Some striking proofs of this depravity in the general
propensity of mankind to vain, irrational, or cruel diversions ; and XXIV. In
the universality of the most ridiculous, impious, inhuman, and diabolical sins.
XXV. The aggravating circumstances attending the display of this corruption.
XXVI. The many ineffectual endeavours to stem its torrent. XXVII. The
obstinate resistance it makes to Divine grace in the unconverted. XXVIII. The
amazing struggles of good men with it. XXIX. The testimony of heathens
and Deists concerning it: and, after all, XXX. The preposterous conceit which
the unconverted have of their own goodness.
248 CONTENTS OF APPKAL.
PART IV.
Man is considered as an inhabitant of the Christian world ; and his fallen state is
farther proved by six Scriptural arguments, introduced by a short demonstra-
tion of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and by a little attack upon the
amazing credulity of Deists. The heads of these arguments are, XXXI. The
impossibility that fallen, corrupt Adam should have had an upright, innocent
posterity; with answers to some capital objections. XXXII. The spirituality
and severity of God's law, which the unrenewed man continually breaks: and
XXXIII. Our .strong propensity to unbelief, the most destructive of all sins,
according to the Gospel. XXXIV. The absurdity of the Christian religion with
respect to infants and strict moralists. XXXV. The harshness and cruelty of
Christ's fundamental doctrines ; and XXXVI. The extravagance of the grand
article of the Christian faith, if mankind are not in a corrupt and lost estate.
PART V.
The doctrine of man's fall being established by such a variety of arguments :
First, A few natural inferences are added. Secondly, Various fatal conse-
quences attending the ignorance of our lost estate. Thirdly, The unspeakable
advantages arising from the right knowledge of it.
The whole is concluded vvrith an address to the serious reader, who inquires what
he must do to be saved. And with an appendix concerning the evangelical
harmony that sub-sists between living faith and loving obedience.
INTRODUCTION.
In religious matters we easily run into extremes. Nothing is more
common than to see people embracing one error \nider the plausible
pretence of avoiding another.
Many, through fear of infidelity, during the night of ignorance
and storm of passion, run against the wild rocks of superstition and
enthusiasm ; and frequently do it with such force that they " make
shipwreck of the faith," and have little of godhness left except a few
broken pieces of its form.
Numbers, to shun that fatal error, steer quite a contrary course :
supposing themselves guided by the compass of reason, when they only
follow that of prejudice, with equal violence they dash their speculative
brains against the rocks of Deism and profaneness ; and fondly congra-
tulate themselves on escaping the shelves of fanaticism, while the leaky
bark of their hopes is ready to sink, and that of their morals is perhaps
sunk already. Thus, both equally overlook sober, rational, heart-felt
piety that lies between those wide and dangerous extremes.
To point out the happy medium \\hich they have missed, and call them
back to the narrow path where reason and revelation walk hand in
hand, is the design of these sheets. May " the Father of lights" so
shine upon the reader's mind that he may clearly discover tnith, and
notwithstanding the severity of her aspect, prefer her to the most sootliing
error !
If the reader is one of those who affect to be the warm votaries of
reason, he is entreated to be a close thinker as well as a free thinker ;
and with careful attention to consider reason's dictates before he con-
cludes that they agree with his favourite sentiments. He has, no doubt,
too much candour not to grant so equitable a request ; too much justice
to set aside matter of fact; and too much good sense to disregard an
appeal to common sense.
Should he incline to the opposite extreme, and ciy down our rational
powers, he is desired to remember, right reason, which is that which I
appeal to, is a ray of " the Light that enUghtens every man who comes
into the world ;" and a beam of the eternal Logos, the " Sun of
righteousness."
God^ far from blaming a proper use of the noble faculty by which we
are chiefly distinguished from brutes, graciously invites us to the exercise :
250 INTRODUCTION.
of it. "Come now," says he, "and let us reason together." Jesus
commends the unjust steward for reasoning better upon his wrong than
the children of light upon their right principles. Samuel desires the
Israelites to "stand still, that he may reason with them before the
Lord." St. Peter charges believers to "give an answer to every one
that asketh them a reason of their hope :" and St. Paul, who reasoned
so conclusively himselt', intimates that wicked men are unreasonable, and
declares that a total dedication of ourselves to God is our reasonable
service. And while he challenges the vain disputers of this world, who
would make jests pass for proofs, invectives for arguments, and sophistrj'
for reason, he charges Titus to use not merely sound speech, but (as the
original also means) sotmd reason, " that he who is of the contrary part
may be ashamed."
Let us, then, following his advice and example, pay a due regard both to
reason and revelation. So shall we, according to his candid direction,
break the shackles of prejudice ; " prove all things, and," by Divine
grace, " hold fast that which is good."
AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT, &c.
PART I.
I^' every religion there is a principle of truth or error, which, like the
first link of a chain, necessarily draws after it all the parts with which
it is essentially connected. This leading principle in Christianity,
distinguished from Deism, is the doctrine of our corrupt and lost estate.
For if man is not at variance with his Creator, what need of a Mediator
between God and him ? If he is not a depraved, undone creature, what
necessity of so wonderful a Restorer and Saviour as the Son of God '?
If he is not enslaved to sin, why is he redeemed by Jesus Christ ? If
he is not polluted, why must he be washed in the blood of the immaculate
Lamb ? If his soul is not disordered, what occasion is there for such a
Divine Physician ? If he is not helpless and miserable, why is he per-
petually invited to secure the assistance and consolations of the Holy
Spirit '! And, in a word, if he is not " born in sin," why is a " new
birth" so absolutely necessary, that Christ declares, with the most
solemn Eisseverations, " without it no man can see the kingdom of
God ?"
This doctrine then being of such importance that genuine Christianity
stands or falls with it, it may be proper to state it at large. And as this
cannot be done in stronger and jilainer words than those of the sacred
writers and our pious reformers, I lieg leave to collect them, and present
the reader with a picture of our natural estate, drawn at full length by
those ancient and masterly i lands.
I. Moses, who informs us, that " God created man in his own image,
and after his likeness," soon casts a shade upon his original dignity by
giving us a sad account of his fall. He represents him, after his dis-
obedience, as a criminal under sentence of death ; a wretch filled with
guilt, shame, dread, and horror ; and a vagabond turned out of a lost
paradise into a cursed wilderness, where all bears the stamp of desolation
for his sake. Gen. iii, 17. In consequence of this apostasy he died, and
" all die in him : for by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,"
1 Cor. XV, 12 ; Rom. v, 12, in him who was all mankind seminally and
federally collected in one individual.
The sacred historian, having informed us how the first man was cor-
rupted, observes, that " he begat a son in his own image," sinful and
mortal like himself: that his first bom was a murderer: that Abel him-
self ofTered sacrifices to avert Divine wrath, and that the violent temper
of Cain soon broke out in all the human species. " The earth," says
he, " was filled with violence, — all flesh had corrupted its way, — and
God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth ;" so great,
'that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con-
2r)2 AN AlMT.Al. TO MATTEK OF FACT. [PART
tiiiually," (ien. vi, 5. Only evil, without any mixture of good ; and
continually, without any intermission of tlie evil.
When the deluge was over, the Loi'd himself gave the same account
of his obstinately rebellious creature. " The imagination of man's
heart," said he to Noah, " is evil from his youth," Gen. viii, 21. Job's
friends paint us with the same colours. One of them observes, that
" man is born like the wild ass's colt :" and another, that " he is abomi-
nable and filthy, and drinketh iniquity like water," Job xi, 12 ; xv, 16.
David doth not alter the hideous portrait. " The Lord," says he,
" looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there
was any that did understand and seek God." And the result of the
Divine inspection is, " They are all gone aside ; they are all together
become filthy ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one," Psalm xiv, 3.
Solomon gives a finishuig stroke to his father's draught, by informing
us, that " Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child :" and not of a
child oidy; for he adds, "The heart of the sons of men is full of
evil ; and while they live, madness is in their heart," Prov. xxii, 1.5 ;
Eccles. ix, 3.
Isaiah corroborates the assertions of the royal prophets in the follow-
ing mournful confessions : " All we, like sheep, have gone Eistray. We
a)"e all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags," Isa. liii, 6 ; Ixiv, 6.
Jeremiah confiniis the deplorable truth where he says, "The sin of
Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ; it
is graven upon the tables of their hearts. O Jerusalem, wash thy heart
from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved." For " the heart is deceit-
ful above all things, and desperately wicked : who can know it ?" Jer.
iv, 14 ; xvii, 1, 9.
Thus the prophets delineate mankind in a natural, impenitent state.
And do the apostles dip their pencil in brighter colours ? Let them speak
for themselves. The chief of them infonns us, that "the natural," unre-
newed " man receives not the things of the Spirit of God," and that "they
are foolishness to him," 1 Cor. ii, 14. And he lays it down as a matter
of fact, that " the carnal mind," the taste and disposition of every unre-
generate person, is not only averse to goodness, but '■'■enmity itself against
God," the adorable fountain of all excellence. A blacker line can hardly
be drawn, to describe a fallen, diabolical nature, Rom. viii, 7.
Various are the names which the apostle of the Gentiles gives to our
original corruption ; which are all expressive of its pernicious nature
and dreadful effects. He calls it emphatically sin ; a sin so full of
activity and energy, that it is the life and spring of all others. " In-
d welling sin ;" a sin which is not like the leaves and fruits of a bad tree,
that appeal" for a time and then drop off; but like the sap that dwells
and works witliin, always ready to break out at every bud. " The body
of sin," because it is an assemblage of all possible sins in embiyo, as
our body is an assemblage of all the members which constitute the human
frame. " The law of sin," and " the law in our members," because it
hath a constraining force, and rules in our mortal bodies, as a mighty
tyrant in the kingdom which he hath usurped. " The old man," because
we have it from the first man, Adam ; and because it is as old as the
first st;miina of our frame, with which it is most closely interwoven.
F1K3T.] AN Al'l'liAL TO MATTKK OF FACT. 253
"The flesh," as being propagated by carnal generation, and always
opposing tiie Spirit, tlie gracious principle which we have Croni Adam
the second. And " concupiscence," that mystic Jezebel, who brings
fortli the uifinite variety of " fleshly, worldly," and " mental lusts which
war against the soul."
Nor are St. James and St. John less severe than St. Paul upon the
unconverted man. The one observes tliat his wisdom, the best property
naturally belonging to him, " descendeth not from above, but is earthly,
sensual, and devilish ,'" and the other positively declares, that " the
whole world lieth in wickedness," James iii, 15 ; 1 John v, 19.
Our Lord, whose Spirit inspired the prophets and apostles, confirms
their lamentable testimony. To make us seriously consider sin, our
mortal disease, he reminds us that " the whole have no need of a physi-
cian, but they that are sick," Luke v, 31. He declares, that " men love
darkness rather than light :" that " the world hates them," and tliat "its
works are evil," John ui, 19 ; xv, 18 ; vii, 7. He directs all to pray for
the " pardon of sin," as "being evil," and " owing ten thousand talents"
to their heavenly creditor. Matt, vi, 12; vii, 11; xviii, 24. And he
assures us, that " the things which defile the man, come from within ;"
and that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornicutions,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolisliness," Mark vii, 21 ; Matt, xv, 19 ; and,
in a word, all moral evil.
Some, indeed, confine what the Scriptures say of the depravity of
human hearts to the abandoned heathens and persecuting Jews ; as if
tlie professors of morality and Christianity were not concerned in the
dreadfiil charge. But if the apostohc writings affirm that Christ "came
not to call the righteous, but sirmers ;" that " he died tor the ungodly,"
and that " he suffered, the just for the luijust ;" it is plain that, unless
he did not suffer and die for moral men and Christimis, they are by
nature sinners, ungodly, and unjust, as the rest of mankind, Romans v, 5 ;
1 Peter iii, 18.
If tliis assertion seems severe, let some of the best men that ever lived
decide the point ; not by the experience of immoral persons, but by
their own. " I abhor myself," says Job, " and repent in dust and ashes,"
Job xliii, 6. " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity," says David, " and in
sm did my mother conceive me," Psalm li, 5. " Wo is me, for I am
undone," says Isaiah, "because I am a man of unclean hps," Isa. vi, 5.
" I know," says St. Paul, " that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no
good thing," Rom. vii, 18. " We ourselves," says he to Titus, "were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and plea-
sures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another," Tit.
iii, 3. And speakuig of himself and the Christians at Ephesus, he leaves
upon record this memorable sentence, "We were, by nature, the children
of wrath even as others," Eph. ii, 3. Such humbling thoughts have the
best men entertained both <jf their natural estate, and of themsehcs !
But as no one is a more proper person to appeal to in this matter than
this learned apostle, who, by continually conversing with Jews, heathens,
and Christians in his travels, had such an o|)portunity of knowing man-
kind, let us hear him sum up the sutl'ruges of his inspired brethren.
"What then," says he, "are we better than ibey ?" Better tluni thrt
254 AN AI'I'EAIi TO MATTKR OF FACT. [PART
immoral Pagans and hypocritical Jews described in the two preceding
chapters? " No, in no wise." And he proves it by observing, (1.) The
universalUy of" human corruption : " All are imder sin, as it is written,
There is noiie righteous, no, not one." (2.) The extent of it in individuals,
as it aftects the whole man, especially his mind : " There is none that
understandeth" the things of God.. His affections : " There is none that
seeketh after God :" and his actions : " They are all gone out of the
way" of duty : "There is none that doeth good, no, not one ;" for "all
have their conversation in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind."
(;3.) The outbreakings of this corruption through all the parts of the
body : " Their throat, their lips, their mouth, their feet, their eyes, and
all their members, are together become unprofitable, and instruments of
unrighteousness." As for their tongue, says St. James, it " is a world
of iniquity, it defileth the whole body, and sets on fire the course of
nature, and is set on fire of hell." And lastly, its malignity and viru-
lence; It is loathsome as " an open sepulchre," terrible as one who
" runs to shed blood," and mortal as " the poison of asps."
From the whole, speaking of all' mankind in their unregenerate state,
he justly infers, that " destruction and misery are in their ways." And,
lest the self righteous should flatter themselves that this alarming decla-
ration doth not regard them, he adds, that " the Scripture concludes all
under sin ;" that " there is no difference, for all have sinned, aqd come
short of the glory of God ;" and that " the moral law" denounces a
general curse against its violators, " that every mouth may be stopped, and
all lite world may become guilty before God," Rom. iii, 9-23 ; vi, 19 ;
Eph. ii, 2.
If man is thus corrupt and guilty, he must be liable to condign punish-
ment. Therefore, as the prophets and apostles agree with our Lord in
tlieir dismal descriptions of this depravity, so they harmonize with him
in the alarming accounts of his danger. Till he flees to the Redeemer
as a condemned malefactor, and secures an interest in the salvation pro-
vided for the lost, they represent him as on the brink of ruin.
They infoi'm us " that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven,"
not only against some atrocious crimes, but " against all unrighteousness
of men," Rom. i, 18. " That every transgression and disobedience shall
receive a just recompense of reward," Heb. ii, 2. That " the soul that
siiineth shall die," because " the wages of sin is death," Ezek. xviii, 4 ;
Rom. vi, 23. They declare, that " they are cursed who do err from
God's commandments :" that "cursed is the man whose heart departeth
from the Lord :" that " cursed is every one who continues not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to do them :" that " who-
soever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point., is guilty
of all :" and that " as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish
without law," Psalm cxix, 21 ; Jer. xvii, 5 ; Gal. iii, 10 ; James ii, 10 ;
Rum. ii, 12.
They entreat us to turn, lest we should be found with " the many," in
the " broad way to destruction," Ezek. xviii, 23 ; Matt, vii, 13. They
afiectionately inform us, " that it is a fearfVd thing to fall into (he hands
of the living God :" that " our God is a consuming fire" to the unre-
generate: that "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, hang
over every soul of man who doeth evil :" that " the Lord shall be revealed
FIRST.] AN APPEAX, TO MATTER OF FACT. 255
tVom heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them who know him
not, and obey not the Gospel :" that " the wicked shall be turned into
hell, and all the people that forget God :" that " they shall be punished
with eternal destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power :" and that " they all shall be damned who believe
not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness," Heb. x, 31 ; xii,
29 ; Rom. ii, 9 ; 2 Thess. i, 8 ; ii, 12 ; Psalm ix, 17.
Nor does our Lord, who is both the fountain and pattern of true cha-
rity, speak a different language. He bids us " fear him, who is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell," Luke xii, 5. He solemnly
charges us to oppose corrupt nature with the utmost resolution, lest we
be " cast into hell, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quench-
ed," Mark ix, 43. With tenderness he informs us, that " whosoever
shall say to his brother, Tlioii fool ! shall be in danger of hell fire ;"
that not only the wicked, but " the unprofitable servant shall be cast into
outer darkness, where will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth ;"
and that he himself, far from conniving at sin, will fix the doom of all
impenitent sinners, by this dreadful sentence, " Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,"
Matt. V, 22; xxv, 30, 41.
IL I flatter myself that the doctrine which we are to tiy by the touch-
stone of reason, has been already suflicicntly established from Scripture.
Nevertheless, that the reader may have the fullest view of so momentous
a subject, I shall yet present him with a recapitulation of the whole, in
the words of our pious reformers, taken out of the articles, homilies, and
liturgy of the Church of England.
The ninth article thus describes our depravity and danger : " Ori-
ginal or birth sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man,
that naturally is engendered of the ofispring of Adam ; whereby man
is very far gone from original rigiiteousness, and is of his own nature
inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit ;
and therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth (jlod's
wrath and damnation."
Tlie thirty-fifth article gives sanction to the homilies in the following
words: — "The book of homilies contains a good and wholesome doctrine,
and therefore we judge them to be read in churches, by ministers, dili-
gently and distinctly, that they may be understood by the people." Let
us then see how they set forth the good and wholesome, though lament-
able and humbling doctrine of our lost estate.
The title of the second homily is, " A Sermon of the Misery of Man-
kind, and of his Condemnation to Death Everlasting by his Sin." In the
close of it, the contents are summed up in these words : — " \Vc liave
heard how evil we are of ourselves ; how of ourselves, and by ourselves,
we have no goodness, help, or salvation ; but, on the contrary, sin, dam-
nation, and death everlasting."
Our Church is uniform in her wofiil accounts of man's misery.
Hear her in the first homily for Whit-Sunday : " Man of his own nature
(since the fall) is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught, sinful and
disobedient to God, without any spark of goodness in him, without any
virtuous or godly motion, only given to evil tlioughts and wicked deeds."
In the homily on the nativity, she speaks thus : " He (disobedient
256 AN AITKAL TO 3IATTKR OV FACT. fPART
man) was now cursed and abhorred. Instead of the image of God, he
was now become the inwige of the devil, the bond slave of hell : alto-
gether spotted and dettled, he seemed to be nothing else but a lump of
sin ; and therefore, by the just judgment of God, he was condemned to
everlasting death. Tlius, in Adam, all men became universally mortal,
having in themselves nothing but everlasting damnation* of body and
t.soul."
The same doctrine is delivered with the same plainness in the second
part of the homily on the passion, " Adam died the death, that is,
became mortal, lost the favour of God, and was cast out of paradise,
being no longer a citizen of heaven, but a firebrand of hell, and a
bond slave of the devil. And St. Paul bears witness, that by Adam's
offence ' death came upon all men to condemnation,' who becaine plain
reprobates and castaways, being perpetually danmed to the everlasting
pains of hell fire,"
Agreeably to this we are taught, in the second part of the homily on
repentance, that " part of that virtue consists in an unfeigned acknow-
ledgment of our sins to God, whom by them we have so grievously
offended, that if he should deal with us according to his justice, we
deserve a thousand hells, if there were so many."
The same vein of w holesome though luipleasant doctrine runs through
the liturgy of om- Church. She opens her service by exhorting us
" not to dissemble nor cloak our manifold sins and wickedness." She
acknowledges, in her confessions, that " we have erred and strayed from
God's ways Uke lost sheep," — that " there is no health in us," — that
we are " miserable sinners, miserable offenders, to whom our sins are
grievous," and " the burden of them is intolerable."
She begins her baptismal office by reminding us that " all men are
conceived and born in sin." She teaches in her catechism that "we
are by nature born in sin, and the cliildren of wrath." She confesses in
the collect before the general thmiksgiving, that " we are tied and bound
with the cliuin of our sins," and entreats God to " let the pitifulness of
his great mercy loose us :" and in her suffrages she beseeches him to
" have mercy upon us," to " spare us," and " make speed to save us ;"
a language that can suit none bvit condemned sinners.
Duly sensible of our extreme danger till we have secin-ed an interest
in Christ, at the grave she supplicates the "most holy God not to deliver
us into the bitter pauis of eternal death :" and in the litany she beseeches
our Lord Jesus Christ, " by his agony and bloody sweat, by his cross
and passion," to " deliver us irom his wrath and everlasting damnation."
Thus is our Church every where consistent with herself, and with the
oracles of God, in representing us as corrupt, condemned creatures in
Adam, till we are penitent, absolved believers in Jesus Christ.
* Prejudiced persons, who, instead of considering the entire system of truth,
run away with a part detached from the whole, will be offended here, as if our
r'hurch "damned every body." But the caudid reader will easily observe, that,
instead of dooming any one to destruction, she only declares, that the Saviour
fmds all men in a state of condemnation and misery, where they would eternally
remain, were it not for tlie compassionate equity of our gracious God, which does
not permit liim to scmtcncc to a consciousness of eternal torments, any one of his
crivitures, for a sin of which they never were personally guilty ; and of which,
consequently, they can never have any consciousness.
SECOND.] Ay AVVEAJu TO MATTER OI FACT. 257
The doctrine to be demonstrated in this treatise being thus fully stated,
in the consentaneous words of the sacred WTiters, and our pious reformers
1 shall close this part by an appeal to the reader's candour and comnjon
sense. If such are the sentiments of our Church, are those Churchmen
reasonable, who iiitimate that all the maintainers of them are either her
open or secret enemies ? And may they rank with modest, humble
Cliristians, who, instead of the sclf-abasing Scripture doctrine here la.]
down, boldly substitute pompous, Pharisaic descriptions of the present
dignity and rectitude of human nature ? Without waiting for the obvious
answer, I pass to the first class of arguments on which the truth of this
mortifying doctrine is established.
PART II.
As no man is bound to believe what is contrary to common sense, if
the above stated doctrine appears irrational. Scriptures, articles, homi-
lies, and liturgy, are quoted in vain. When men of parts are pressed
with their authority, they start from it as an imposition on their reason,
and make as honourable a retreat as they possibly can.
Some, to extricate themselves at once, set the Bible aside, as full of
incredible assertions. Others, with more modesty, plead that the Scrip,
tures have been frequently misunderstood, and are so in the present case.
They put grammar, criticism, and common sense to the rack, to show
that when the inspired writers say the human " heart is desperately
wicked," they meiui that it is extremely good ; or at least like blank
paper, ready to receive either the characters of virtue or vice. With
respect to the testimony of our reformers, they would have you to under-
stand tliat in this enlightened age we must leave their harsh, uncharitable
sentiments to the old Puritans, and the present Methodists.
That sxich objectors may subscribe as a .solemn truth what they have
liitherto rejected as a dangerous error ; and that humbled sinners may
see the propriety of a heartfelt repentance, and the absolute need of an
almighty Redeemer, they are here presented with some proofs of our
depravity, taken from the astonishing severity of God's dispensations
toward mankind.
If we consider the Supreme Being as creating a world for the mani-
festation of his glorj', the display of his perfections, and the communi-
cation of his happiness to an intelligent creature, whom he would attach
to himself by the strongest ties of gratitude and love ; we at once per-
ceive, that he nc\er could fonu this earth, and man, in theii* present
disordered, deplorable condition. It is not so absurd to suppose the
meridian suii productive of darkness, as to imagine that Infinite Goodness
ever produced any kind or degree of evil.
InJinUe Holiness and Wisdom having assisted Infinite Goodness to
di'aw the original plan of the world, it could not but be entirely worthy
of its glorious Author, absolutely free from every moral defilement and
natural disorder : nor could Infinite Power possibly be at a loss to exe-
cute what the other Divine attributes had contrived. Therefore, unless
Vol. UL 17
258 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
we embrace the senseless opinion of the Materialists, who deny the
being of a God ; or admit the ridiculous creed of the Manichees, who
adore two gods ; the one the gracious Author of all the good, and tb*?
other the mischievous principle of all the evil in the world, we must
conclude with Moses, that every thing which God made was at first
" very good ;" or, in other words, that order and beauty, harmony and
happiness, were stamped upon every part of the creation, and especially
on man, the masterpiece of Creating Power in this sublunary world.
On this axiom I raise my
FIKST ARGUMENT.
Does not the natural state of the earth cast a Kght upon the spiritual
condition of its inhabitants ? Amidst a thousand beauties that indicate
what it was when God pronounced it " very good," and as the original
imports, extremely beautiful ; amidst the elegant and grand niins which
forni the variety of our smiling landscapes and romantic prospects, can
an impartial inquirer help taking notice of a thousand striking proofs,
that a multiplied curse rests upon this globe ; and that man, who iiihabits
it, is now disgraced by the God of nature and providence ?
Here, deceitful morasses, or faithless quicksands, obstnict our way ;
there, miry, impassable roads, or inhospitable, sandy deserts, endanger
our life. In one place we are stopped ' >"■ stupendous chains of rocky
mountains, broken into frightful precipices, or hideous caverns ; and iii
another we meet with ruinous valleys, cut deep by torrents and water-
falls, whose tremendous roar stuns the astonished traveller. Many of
the hills are stony, rude, and waste ; and most of the plains ure covered
over with strata of barren sand, stiff clay, or infertile gravel.
Thorns, thistles, and noxious weeds,* grow spontaneously every
where, and yield a troublesome, never-failing crop ; while the best soil,
carefully ploughed by the laborious husbandman, and sown with precious
seed, frequently repays his expensive toil with light sheaves or a blasted
harvest.
Consider that immense part of the globe which lies between the
tropics : it is parched up by the scorching beams of the vertical sun.
There the tawny inhabitants fan themselves in vain ; they pant, they
melt, they faint on the sultry couch ; and, like the birds of night, dare
not appear abroad till evening shades temper the insufferable blaze of
day. View the frozen countries around the poles : in summer the sun
just glances upon them by his feeble, horizontal rays : in winter he
totally deserts them, and they lie bound with rigorous frosts, and buried
in continual night. There the toi-pid inhabitants know neither harvest
nor vintage ; the ocean seems a boundless plain of ice, and the continent
immense hills of snow.
The temperate zones are indeed blessed with cUmates : but even here
how irregular are the seasons ! To go no farther than this favoured
* Those who oppose the doctrine of the fall, say that "weeds have their use."
I grant they are serviceable to thousands of people, who earn their bread by pull-
ing tlie general nuisance out of our fields and gardens : but till our objectors have
proved that thistles are more useful, and therefore grow more spontaneously, and
multiply more abundantly, than corn, we shall discover the badness of their cause
through the slightness of their objection.
SECOND.] AN APPEAL TO MATTKR OF FACT. 259
island, what means the strange foresight by which the ice of January in
laid in to temper the ardours of July ; and the burning mineral is stored
up in June to mitigate the frost in December? But notwithstanding
these precautions, what continual complaints are heard about the intense-
ness of the heat, the severity of the cold, or the sudden pernicioua
change from the one to the other.
Let us descend to particulars. In winter, how often do drifts of snow
bury the starved sheep, and entomb the frozen traveller ! In summer,
how frequently do dreadful storms of hail cut down, or incessant
showers of rain wash away the fruits of the earth ! Perhaps, to com-
plete the desolation, vxiier pours down from all the neighbouring hills ;
and the swelling streams, joining with overflowing rivers, cause sudden
inundations, lay waste their I'ichest pastures, and carry off the swimming
flocks ; while the frighted inhabitants of tiie vale* either retire to the
top of their deluged houses, or by the timely assistance of boats, fly
from the imminent and increasing danger.
...
'If heaven seems to dissolve into water in one place, in another it is
like brass ; it yields neither fruitful rains nor cooling dews ; the earth
is like iron under it, and the perishing cattle loll out their parched
tongues, where they once drank the refreshing stream. Suppose a few
happy districts escape these dreadful scourges for a number of yeare,
are they not at last visited with redoubled severity ? And, while abused
affluence vanishes as a dream before the intolerable dearth, do not a
star\'ing, riotous populace,']' leave their wretched cottages to plunder the
houses of their wealthy neighbours, desperately venturing the gallows
for a morsel of bread ?
When some, secure from the attacks of water, quietly enjoy the com-
forts of plenty, fre perhaps surprises them in an instant : they awake
involved in smoke and surrounded by crackling flames, through which
(if it is not too late) they fly naked, at the hazard of their necks, and
think themselves happy if, while they leave behmd them young childi'en
or aged parents burning in the blaze of all their goods, they escape them-
selves with dislocated joints or broken bones. Their piercing shrieks,
and the fall of their house, seem to portend a general conflagration ; loud
contusion increases ; disastrous ruin spreads ; and perhaps, before they
can be stopped, a street, a suburb, a whole city, is reduced to ashes.
Turn your imagination from the smokmg ruins, to fix it upon the terri-
fying effects of the ah; agitated into roaring tempests and boisterous
hurricanes. Before their impetuous blast, masts of ships, and cedars of
Lebanon, are like broken reeds ; men of war, and solid buildings, like
the driven chafl'. Here, they strip the groaning forests, tear the bosom
of the earth, and obscure the sky with clouds of whirling sand : and
there, they plough up the liquid, foaming plains, and with sportive fury
turn up mountains for ridges, or cut valleys instead of furrows. As they
pass along, the confounded elements dreadfully roar under the mighty
scourge, the rolling sea tosses herself up to heaven, and soUd land is
"swept with the besom of destruction."
To heighten the horrors of the scene, thunder, the majestic voice of
an angry God, and the awful artillery of heaven, bursts in loud claps
* This was the case of several families in the author's parish, November, 1770.
t This happened some years ago in this neighbourhood
260 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF PACT. [PART
from the lowering sky. Distant hills reverberate and increase the
alanning sound, and with rocking edifices declare to man that " ven-
geance belongeth unto God :" and, to enforce the solemn warning,
repeated flashes of lightning, with horrible glare, dazzle his eyes, and
with forked fires strike consternation into his breast ; if they do not
actually strike him dead in the midst of his shattered habitation.
Nor doth heaven alone dart destructive fires; earth, our mother earth, as
if it were not enough frequently to corrupt the atmosphere by pestilential
vapours, borrows the assistance of the devouring element to terrify and
scourge her guilty children. By sudden, frightful chasms, and the
mouth of her burning mountains, she vomits clouds of smoke, sulphure-
ous flames, and calcined rocks ; she emits streams of melted minerals ;
covers the adjacent plains with boiling, fiery lavas ; and, as if she wanted
to ease herself of the burden of her inhabitants, suddenly rises against
them, and in battles of shaking, at once crushes, destroys, and buries
them in heaps of ruin.
These astonishing scenes, like a bloody battle that is seen at a distance,
may indeed entertain us : they amuse our imagination, when, in a peace-
ful apartment, we behold them beautifully represented by the pen of a
Virgil, or the pencil of a Raphael. But to be in the midst of them,
as thousands are, sooner or later, is inexpressibly dreadful : it is actually
to see the forerunners of Divine vengeance, and hear the shakmg of
God's destructive rod : it is to behold at once a lively emblem, and an
awful pledge of that " fire and brimstone, storm and tempest," which
the righteous Governor of the world will "rain upon the ungodly,"
when " the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth with all the works that are
therein shall be burned up."
Now, as reason loudly declares that the God of order, justice, and
goodness, could never establish and continue this fearful course of things,
but to punish the disorders of the moral world by those of the natural ;
we must conclude that man is guilty from the alarming tokens of Divine
displeasure, which, sooner or later, are so conspicuous in every part of
the habitable globe.
SECOND ARGUMENT.
We have taken a view of the residence of mankind : let us now be-
hold them entering upon the disordered scene. And here reason informs
us that some mystery of iniquity lies hid under the loathsome, painful,
and frequently mortal circumstances, which accompany their birth : for
it can never be imagined that a righteous and good God would suffer
innocent and pure creatures to come uito the world sldlled in no lan-
guage but that of misery, venting itself in bitter cries or doleful accents.
It is a matter of fact, that infants generally return their first breath
with a groan, and salute the light with the voice of sorrow : generally,
I say, for sometimes they are born half dead, and cannot, without the
utmost difficulty, be brought to breathe and groan. But all are born at
the hazard of their lives : for while some cannot press into the land of
the living without being dangerously bruised, others have their tender
bones dislocated. Some arc almost strangled ; and it is the horrible
fate of others to be forced into the world by instruments of torture ;
SECO>T).] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 2G1
having their skull bored through or broken to pieces, or their quivering
limbs cut or torn oft' from the unfortunate trunk. Again :
While some appear on the stage of life embaiTassed with superfluous
parts, others, unaccountably mutilated, want those which are necessary :
and, what is more terrible still, a few, whose hideous, misshapen bodies
seem calculated to represent the deformity of a fallen soul, rank among
frightful monsters ; and, to terminate the horror of the parents, are actu-
ally smothered emd destroyed.
The spectators, it is true, concerned for the honour of mankind,
frequently draw a veil over these shocking and bloody scenes ; but a
philosopher will find them out, and will rationally infer, that the de-
plorable and dangerous manner in which mankind are born, proves them
to be degenerate, fallen creatures.*
THIRD ARGUMENT.
If we let our thoughts ascend from the little sufferers to the mothers
that bear them, we shall iind another dreadful proof of the Divine dis-
plecisure, and of our natural depravity. Does not a good master, much
more a gracious God, delight in the prosperity and happiness of his
faithful servants? If mankind were naturally in their Creator's favour,
would he not order the fruit of the womb to drop from it without any
more inconveniency than ripe vegetables fall from the opening husk, or
full-grown fruits from the disburdened tree? But how widely different is
the case !
Fix your attention on pregnant mothers : see their disquietude and
fears. Some go beforehand through an imaginary travail, almost as
painful to the mind as the real labour is to the body. The dreaded hour
comes at last. Good God ! What lingering, what tearing pains ; what
redoubled throes, what killing agonies attend it! See the curse, — or
rather, see it not. Let the daughter of her who tasted the forbidden
fruit without the man, druik that bitter cup without him. Flee from the
mournful scene, flee to distant apartments. But in vain — the din of
sorrow pursues and overtakes you there.
A child of man is at the point of being lx)rn ; his tortured mother
proclaims the news m the bitterest accents. They increase with her
increasing agony. Sympathize and pray, while she suffers and groans,
— perhaps while she suffers and dies : for it is possibly her dying groan
that reaches your ear. Perhaps nature is spent in the hard travail ; her
son is bom, and, with Jacob's wife, she closes her languid eyes and ex-
pires. Perhaps the instruments of death are upon her ; the keen steel
* Logicians will excuse the author, if he prefers the common unaffected man-
net of proposing his arguments, to the formal method of the schools. But tliey
may easily try his enthymemcs by giving them the form of syllogisms, thus : —
First Argument. If the rod of God is fearfully shaken over this globe, the
disordered habitation of mankind, it is a sign they are under his displeasure.
But God's rod is fearfully shaken over this globe, &c. Therefore mankind are
under his displeasure.
Second Argument. A pure and innocent creature cannot be born under such
and such deplorable circumstances.
But man is born under such and such deplorable circumstances. Tlicrofnre
man is not a pure and innocent creature.
262 AN APPEAL TO MATTER DP FACT. [PART
mangles her delicate frame ; as Cesar's mother, she generously suffers
her body to be opened, that her unborn child may not be torn from her
in pieces ; and the fertile tree is unnaturally cut down theit its fruit may
be safely gathered.
Perhaps neither mother nor child can be saved, and one grave is
going to deprive a distracted mortal of a beloved Rachel, and a long-
expected Benjamin. If this is the case, O earth, earth, earth ! conceal
these slain ; cover their blood, and detain, in thy dark bosom, the feai-ful
curse that brought them there ! Vain wish ! Too active to be confined
in thy deepest vaults, it ranges through tlie world : with unrelenting
fierceness it pursues trembling mothers, and forces them to lift up their
voice for speedy rehef : though varied according to the accents of a
hundred languages, it is the same voice, that of the bitterest anguish ;
and while it is reverberated from hamlet to hamlet, from city to city, it
strikes the unprejudiced inquirer, and makes him confess that these
clouds of unbribed witnesses, by their loud consentaneous evidence,
impeach sin, the tormentor of the woman and murderer of her oflTspring.
But suppose the case is not so fatal, and she is at last delivered : her
labour may be over, yet not her pain and danger ; a lingering weakness
may carry her slowly to her grave. If she recovers, she may be a mo-
ther, and yet unable to act a mother's part. Her pining child sucks her
disordered breast in vain : either the springs of his balmy food are dried
up, or they overflow with a putrid, loathsome fluid, and excruciating
ulcers cause the soil; lips of the infant to appear terrible as the edge of
the. sword.
If she happily escape this common kind of distress, yet she may date
the beginning of some chronical disease from her dangerous lying-in ;
and, in consequence of her hard wrestling for the blessing of a child,
may with the patriarch go halting all her days. How sensible are the
marks of Divine indignation in all these scenes of sorrow ! And conse-
quently, how visible our sinfulness and guilt !
Nor can the justness of the inference be denied, under pretence
that the females of other animals, which neither do nor can sin, bring
forth their young with pain as well as women. For, if we take a view
of the whole earth, we shall not see any females, except the daughters
of Eve, who groan under a periodical disorder, that entails languor and
pain, weakness and mortal diseases, on their most blooming days. Nor
do we in general find any that are delivered of their offspring with half
the sorrow and danger of women. These two remarkable circumstances
loudly call upon us to look for the cause of sorrow which attends the
dehvery of female animals, where that sorrow is most sensibly felt ; and
to admire the perfect agreement that subsists between the observations
of natural philosophers, and the assertion of the most ancient historian.
Gen. iii, 16.
FOURTH ARGtUIENT.
If we advert to mankind, even before they burst the womb of their
tortured mothers, they afford us a new proof of their total degeneracy.
For reason dictates that if they were not conceived in sin, the Father
of mercies could not, consistently with his goodness and justice, com-
mand the cold hand of death to nip them in the unopened, or juat-opcaed
SECOND.] AN- APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. Q6S
bud. This nevertheless happens every hour. Who caii number the
early miscan-iages of the womb? How many millions of miserable
embr}'os feel the pangs of death before those of birth, and preposterously
turn the fruitful womb into a living grave ! And how many millions
more of wretched infants escape tlie dangers of their biilhday, and
salute the troublesome light only to take their untimely leave of it, after
languishing a few days on the rack of a convulsive or torturing disorder?
I ask again, Would a good and righteous God seal the death warrant
of such multitudes of his unborn, or newly born creatures, if their natural
depravity did not render them proper subjects of dissolution ?
It is true, the young of beasts suffer and die, as well as infants ; but it
is only because they arc involved in our miseiy. They partake of it as
the attendants of a noble traitor share in his deserved ruin. Sin, that
inconceivable, virulent, and powerful evil, drew down God's righteous
curse upon all that was created for man's use, as well as upon man him-
self. Hence only spring the degeneracy and death that turn beasts to
one promiscuous dust with mankind. Compare Gen. iii, 17 ; Rom. v,
12 ; and viii, 22. We may then justly infer, from the sufierings and
death of still-born or new-born children, that man is totally degenerate,
and liable to destruction, even from his mother's womb.
FIFTH AEGXmENT.
But take your leave of the infant corpse, already buried in the womb,
or deposited in a coffin of a span long ; fix your attention on the healthy
sucking cliild. See him stupidly stai'ing in Iris nurse's lap, or awkwardly
passing through childhood to manhood. How visible is his degeneracy
in ever stage !
Part of the Divine image, in which he was made in Adam, consisted
in purity, power, and knowledge ; but now he is naturally the least
cleanly, as well as the most helpless and ignorant of all animals. Yes,
if the reader could forgive the indelicacy of the assertion for the sake
of its truth, I would venture to show that there is no comparison between
the cleanliness of the little active animals which suck the filthy swine ;
and of helpless infants, who suck the purer breasts of their tender
mothers. But, casting a veil over the dribbling, loathsome Uttle creatures,
without fear of being contradicted, I aver, that the young of those brutes,
which are stupid to a proverb, know their dams, and follow them as soon
as they are dropped ; while infants are months without taking any par-
ticular notice of their parents, and without being able, I shall not say to
follow them, but even to bear the weight of their swaddled body, or stand
upon their tottering legs.
With reference to the knowledge necessary for the support of animal
life, it is undeniable that brutes have greatly the advantage of mankind.
Fowls and fishes immediately, and with amazing sagacity, single out
their proper nourishment among a thoiisand useless and noxious things :
but infants put indifferently to their mouth all that comes to their hand,
whether it be food or poison, a coral or a knife ; and what is more
astonishing still, grown-up persons scarce ever attain to the knowledge
of the quantity', or quality of the meat and drink which are most suitable
to their constitutions.
AH disordered dogs fix at once upon the salutary vegetable that can
264 AN APPEAL TO MATTEB OF PACT. [PART
(in some cases) relieve their distress : but many physicians, even after
several years' study and practice, hurt, and sometimes kill their patients
by improper medicines. Birds of passage, by mere instinct, And the
north and the south more readily than mariners by the compass. Un-
taught spiders weave their webs, and uninstructed bees make their combs
to the greatest perfection : but fallen man must serve a tedious appren-
ticeship to learn his own business ; and with all the help of masters, tools,
and patterns, seldom proves an ingenious artist.
Again : other animals are provided with a natural covering that answers
the double end of usefulness and ornament ; but indigent man is obhged
to borrow from plants, beasts, and worms, the materials with which he
hides his nakedness, or defends his feebleness ; and a great part of his
short life is spent in providing, or putting on and off garments, the gaudy
tokens of his shame, or ragged badges of his fall.
Are not these plain proots that man, who, according to his superior
rank and primitive excellency, should in all things have the pre-emuience,
is now a degraded being, cursed for his apostasy with native unclean-
liness, helplessness, ignorance, and nalcedness, above all other animals ?
SIXTH ARGUMENT.
Man's natural ignorance, great as it is, might nevertheless be over-
looked, if he had but the right knowledge of his Creator. But, alas !
the holy and righteous God judicially withdraws himself from his unholy,
apostate creatures. Man is not pi'operly acquainted with Him " in whom
he lives, and moves, and hath his being." This humbling truth may b^
demonstrated by the following observations : —
God is infinitely perfect ; all the perfection which is found in the most
exalted creatures, is but the reflection of the transcendent effulgence be-
longing to that glorious Sun of spiritual beauty ; it is but the surface of the
unfathomable depths of goodness and loveliness, which regenerate souls
discover in that boundless ocean of all excellence. If therefore men
saw God, they could far less help being struck with holy awe, over-
whelmed with pleasing wonder, and ravished with delightful admiration ;
than a man born blind, and restored to sight in the blaze of a sutnmer's
day, could help being transported at the glory of the new and unex-
pected scene : " Could we but see virtue in all her beauty," said a
heathen, " she would ravish our hearts."* How much greater would
our ravishment be if we were indulged with a clear, immediate dis-
covery of the Divine beauty, the eternal original of all virtue, the exu-
berant fountain of all perfection and delight ! But, alas ! how few thus
behold, know, and adrnire God, may easily be seen by the impious or
vain conduct of mankind.
If a multitude of men ingenuously confess they know not the king ;
if they take his statue, or one of his attendants for him ; or, if they
doubt whether there be a king, or sport with his name and laws in his
presence ; we reasonably conclude that they neither see nor know the
royal person. And is not this the case of the superstitious, who, like
the Athenians, worship an " unknown God V Of idolaters, who bow
to favourite mortals, or lifeless images, as to the true God ? Of infidels,
* Si virtus conspiceretur oculis, niirabiles amoris excitaret sui — Cickro.
SECOND.] AX APPKAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 265
who doubt the very being of a God ? And of open sinners, the bulk of
mankind, who live every where as if there was none?
Our natural ignorance of God manifests itself still more evidently, by
the confessions both of real and nominal Christians. The former,
before they knew God, and were admitted to " behold his glorj^ shining
in the face of .lesus Christ," bitterly complained as Isaiah, " Verily thou
art a God that hidest thyself;" or mournfully asked with David, " How
long M'ilt thou hide thy face from me ?" It is plain, then, that by nature
they were as others, " without God (practical Atheists) in the world,"
and have as much reason as St. Paul to declare, that " the world by
wisdom knew not God."
As for nomimil Christians, though they daily pray that " the fellowship
of the Holy Ghost may be with us all," it is evident they ai"c utter
strangers to communion with God by his Holy Spirit. For if we aflirm
that he blesses his children with a spiritual discovery of his presence,
and " manifests liimself to them as he doth not to the world" they say
we are mad, or call us enthusiasts. Tliis behaviour shows, beyond all
confessions, that they are totally unacquainted with " the light of God's
countenance :" for, what greater proof can a blind man give, that he has
no knowledge of the sun, than to suspect his neighbour of lunacy, for
affirming that sunshine is a delighttul reality?
From this moral demonstration of our natural ignorance of God, I
draw the following conclusion : — If the Lord, wlio is a mild and conde-
scending King to all his loyal subjects, a Father, full of endearing and
tender love to all his dutiful children, liides his face from mankind in a
natural state ; and if what little they know of him is only by conjecture,
liearsay, or inference ;* it is a proof that they are under his displeasure,
and consequently that they are rebellious, fallen creatures.
■ For what but rebellion could thus separate between beings so nearly
related as an infinitely gracious Creator, and favourite creature, whose
soul is, according to a heathen, " divincB'parlicula aurce ;" and according
to Moses, " the very breath of God ?" We may then rationally con-
clude, with the evangelical prophet, that " our iniquities have separated
between us and our God," and that " our sins have hid his face from us,"
eclipsed the Sun of righteousness, and brought such darkness on our
souls, that, by nature, we know ncithprwhat we are, nor what we should
be ; neither whence we come, nor whither we are going ; neither the
grand business we have to do, nor the danger that attends our leaving it
undone.
SEVENTH ARGU5IENT.
If by nature mankind know not the Lord to be their God, is it sur-
prising that beasts should not know mankind to be their lords ? Never-
theless, reason agrees with Scripture in maintaining, that man, by far the
noblest work of God here below, should, according to the reason and
fitness of things, bear rule over all the subhmary creation. But, alas!
even in this respect, '' how is the crown fallen from his head !" Inferior
animals have as little regard for him as he has for his God.
• This 18 the knowledge of God mcntionod Rom. i, 21. It is sufficient to leave
loilliout excuse tliose wlio do not improve it till they attain to tlic Having know-
ledge mentioned John .%vii, 3 ; 1 John y, 20
268 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT, [PART
Notwithstanding his artful contrivances, greedy birds and mischievous
beasts eat up, trample do\vTi, or desti'oy, part of the fruit of his rural
labour. In warmer climes, armies of locusts, more terrible than hosts
of men, frequently darken the air, or cover the ground, and equally
mock at human power and craft. Wherever they light, all verdure dis-
appears, and the summer's fmitfulness is turned into wintry desolation.
If locusts do not reach this happy island, caterpillars, and a variety
of other seemingly insignificant, but really formidable insects, make a
more constant, though less general attack upon our trees and gardens.
In vain are they destroyed by millions ; they cannot be fully conquered ;
and the yearly returning plague forces the considerate spectator to
acknowledge the finger of a sin-avenging Providence,
Happy would it be for man, if rebeUious animals were satisfied with
the produce of his fields and orchards : but, alas ! they thirst after his
blood, and attack his person. Lions, tigers, rattlesnakes, crocodiles,
and sharks, whenever they have an opportunity, impetuously attack,
furiously tear, and greedily devour him. And what is most astonishing,
the basest reptiles are not afraid to breed in his stomach, to live in his
very bowels, and to consume his inward parts : while swarms of flying,
leaping, or creeping insects, too vile to be named, but not to humble a
proud apostate, have the insolence to fix upon his skin ; and by piercing
or furrowing his flesh, suck his blood, and feast upon him from his cradle
to the grave.
Domestic animals, it is true, do man excellent service. But, is it not
because he either forces, or bribes them to it, by continual labour and
expense, with which he breaks and maintains tliem ? What business
have multitudes of men but to serve the drudges of mankind ? What are
smiths, farriers, farmers' servants, grooms, hostlers, &c, but the slaves
of brutes, washing, currying, shoeing, feeding, and waiting upon them
both by day and by night?
And yet, notwithstanding the prerogative granted to Noah's piety,
Gen. ix, 2, and the care taken of domestic animals, do they not rebel as
often as they dare ? Here, sheep, deemed the quietest of all, run astray,
or break into the field of a litigious neighbour. There, the ftirious bull
pursues and gores, or the raging dog sets upon and tears the inoffensive
traveller. To-day you read that an impetuous, foaming steed hath hur-
ried away, thrown off, and dragged along his unfortunate master, whose
blood sprinkling the dust, and brams dashed upon the stones, direct the
search of his disconsolate friend : and to-morrow you may hear that a
vicious horse has darted liis iron-fenced hoof into his attendant's breast
or forehead, and has lamed or killed him on the spot.
And would the wise Governor of the world, the kind Protector of his
obedient creatures, permit this rebellion, even of the tamest animals, and
basest vermin, against man, if man himself Avas not a daring rebel against
him?
EIGHTH ARGUMENT.
That a contemptible insect should dare to set upon, and be able to
devour a proud monarch, a Herod in the midst of his guards, is terrible :
but the mischief stops not here. Numerous tribes of other base animals
are armed with poisonous tongues or stings, and use them against man-
SECO^iD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 267
kind with peculiar rage. To say nothing of mad dogs, have not asps,
vipers,* tarantulas, scorpions, and other venomous serpents and insects,
the destructive skill of extracting the quintessence of the curse which
sin, our moral poison, hath brought upon the earth ? When we come
within their reach, do thej- not bite or sting us with the utmost fury ?
And by infusing their subtle venom into our blood, spread they not
anguish and destruction through our agonizing frame ? Answer, ye
thousands who died in the wilderness of tiie bite of fiery serpents ; and
ye multitudes, who, in almost all countries, have shared their deplorable
fate.
Let us descend to the vegdable world. How many deceitful roots,
plants, and fruits, deposit their pernicious juices in the stomach of those
who unwarily feed upon them ! Did not Elisha, and the sons of the
prophets, narrowly escape being poisoned all togedier, by one of them
fatally mistaking a pot-herb ? And do not many go quickly or slowly
to their grave by such melancholy accidents ?
Minerals and metah are not the last to enter into the general conspi-
racy against mankind. Under inoffensive appearances do not they
contain what is destructive to the animal frame ? And have not many
fallen a sacrifice to their ignorance of the mischief lurking in arsenic,
and other mineral productions ?f Nor are metallic effluvia less hurtful
to hundreds ; and the health of mankind is perhaps more injured by
copper alone, than it is preserved by all the mineral waters in the world.
It is acknowledged that numbers are poisoned by food prepared in uten-
sils made of that dangerous metal ; and how many are insensibly hurt by
the same means, is only known to a wise and righteous Providence.
Thus God leaves us in a world where mischief lurks under a variety
of things apparently useful, without givmg us the least intimation of
destruction near. To say that infinite Goodness can deal thus with inno.
cent creatures, is offering violence to our reason, and an affront to Divine
justice. Conclude then with me, reader, that we have lost our original
innocence, and forfeited our Creator's favour.
Ni:VTH ARGUMENT.
But if the generality of mankind escape all the various sorts of
poison, do they escape the curse of toil and sweat ? Is not a great
majority of them reduced to such sordid want, and pressing necessity,
as to be obliged to do the greatest drudgery for a wretched maintenance ?
When " God made men to have dominion over the works of his hands ;"
when he " put all things in subjection under their feet, and crowned them
with glory and honour ;" they filled up each happy hour in evidencing
their love to him and to each other ; they spent their golden moments
in admiring the variety and beauty of his works, fuiding out the Divine
signatures impressed upon them, swaying their mild sceptre over the
obedient creation, and enjoying the rich, incorruptible fruits, which the
* Some will say tliat vipers' flesh is useful in physic. I grant it : but is the
poison of that creature useful ? This must be proved before the argument can bo
invahdated.
+ It is objected, that excellent remedies are prepared witli antimony and mer-
cury. But it is well known that the persons who use tlicm only expel one poison
with another ; as the decayed constitutions of those who have frcipipnt rocouree to
«uch violont medicines abundantly prove.
268 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
earth spontaneously produced in the greatest perfection and abundance.
Tlius their pleasure was without idleness or pain, and their emplo}n[ient
without toil or weariness.
But no sooner did disobedience open the floodgates of natural evil,
than arduous labour came in full tide upon mankind ; and a thousand
painful arts were invented to mitigate the manilbld curse which sin had
brought upon them.
Since the fall, our bodies are become vulnerable and shamefully naked ;
and it is the business of thousands to make, or sell, all sorts of garments
for our defence and ornament. The earth has lost her original fertility ;
and thousands more with iron instruments open her bosom, to force her
to yield us a maintenance ; or with immense labour secure her preca-
rious, decaying fruits. Immoderate rains deprive her of her solidity,
and earthcjuakes or deluges destroy her evenness ; numbers, therefore,
are painllilly employed in making or mending roads. Each country
affords some only of the necessaries or conveniences of life ; this obliges
the mercantile inhabitants to transport, with immense trouble and danger,
the produce of one place, to supply the wants of anotiier. We are
exposed to a variety of dangers : our persons and property must be
secured against the inclemency of the weather, the attacks of evil beasts,
and the assaults of wicked men ; hence the fatigue of millions of work-
men in wood and stone, metals and minerals ; and the toils and hazards
of millions more, who Uve by maliing, wearmg, or using, the various
instruments of war and slaughter.
Disorder and injustice give rise to government, poUtics, and a labyrinth
of laws ; and these employ myriads of officers, lawyers, magistrates, and
rulers. We are subject to a thousand pains and maladies ; hence,
myriads more prescribe and prepare remedies, or attend and nurse the
sick. Our universal ignorance occasions the tedious labour of giving
and receiving insti'uction, in all the branches of human and Divine know-
ledge. And, to complete the whole, the original tongue of mankind is
confounded, and even neighbouring nations are barbarians to each other :
from hence arise the painful lucubrations of critics and linguists, with
the infinite trouble of teaching and learning various languages.
The curse introduced by sin is the occasion of all these toils. They
are soon mentioned, but, alas ! how long, how grievous do they appear
to those that feel their severity ! How many sighs have they forced
from the breasts, how much sweat from the bodies of mankind ! Unite
the former, a tempest might ensue ; collect the latter, it would swell
into rivers.
To go no farther than this populous parish, with what hardships and
dangers do our indigent neighbours earn their bread ! See those who
ransack the bowels of the earth to get the black mineral we burn : how
little is their lot preferalile to that of the Spanish felons, who work the
golden mines !
They take their leave of the light of the sun, and, suspended by a rope,
are let down many fathoms perpendicularly toward the centre of the
globe. They traverse the rocks through which they have dug their
horizontal ways ; the murderer's cell is a palace in comparison of the
bla(-'k spot to which they repair ; the vagrant's posture in the stocks is
preferable to that in winch they labour.
SECOND.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 269
Form, if you can, an idea of the misery of men kneeling, stooping, or
lying on one side, to toil all day in a confined place, where a child could
hardly stand ; while a younger company, with their hands and feet on
the black, dusty ground, and a chain about their body, creep and drag
along, like four-footed beasts, heavy loads of the dirty mineral, through
ways almost impassable to the curious observer. \
In these low and dreary vaults all the elements seem combined against
them. Destructive damps, and clouds of noxious dust, infect the air
tliey breathe. Sometimes water incessantly distils on their naked bodies ;
or, bursting upon them in streams, drowns them, and deluges their work.
At other times, pieces of detached rocks crush them to death, or the
earth, breaking in upon them, buries them alive. And frequently sul-
phureous vapours, Idndled m an instant by the light of their candles,
foi'm subterraneous thunder and lightning. What a dreadful phenome-
non ! How impetuous is the blast ! How fierce the rolling flames !
How intolerable the noisome smell ! How dreadful the continued roar !
How violent and fatal the explosion !
Wonderful providence ! Some of the unhappy men have time to pros-
trate themselves ; the fiery scourge grazes their back, the ground shields
their breasts ; they escape. See them wound up out of the blazing dun-
geon, and say if these are not " brands plucked out of the fire." A
pestiferous steam, and clouds of suffocating smoke, pursue them. Half
dead themselves, they hold their dead or dying companions in their
trembling arms. Merciful God of Shadrach ! Kind protector of Me-
shech ! Mighty deliverer of Abednego ! Patient preserver of rebellious
Jonah ! Will not these utter a song, — a song of praise to tJiee, — praise
ardent as the flames they escape, — lasting as the life thou prolongest?
Alas ! they refuse ! And some, — O tell it not "among the heathens, lest
they for ever abhor the name of Christian, — some return to the very pits
where they have been branded with sulphureous fire by the warning hand
of Providence ; and there, sporting themselves again with the most infer,
nal wishes, call aloud for a fire that cannot be quenched, and challenge
the Almighty to cast them into hell, that bottomless pit whence there is
no return.
Leave these black men at their perilous work, and see yonder barge-
men hauhng that loaded vessel against wind and stream. Since the dawn
of day they have wrestled with the impetuous current ; and now that it
almost overpowers them, how do they exert all the remaining strengtli,
imd strain their every nerve ! How are they bathed in sweat and raui !
Fastened to their lines, as horses to their traces, wherein do they differ
from the laborious brutes ? Not in an erect posture of body ; for through
the intenseness of their toil they bend forward, their head is foremost,,
and their hands upon the ground. If there is any difference, it consists
in this : horses arc indulged with a collar to save their breast ; and these,
as if theirs was not worth saving, draw without one. The beasts tug in
patient silence, and mutual harmony ; but the men with loud contention,
and horrible imprecations. O sin, what hast thou done ! Is it not enough
that these drudges should toil like brutes ? Must they also curse one
another like devils ?
If you have gone beyond the hearing of their impious oaths, stop to
consider the sons of Vulcan confined to these forges and furnaces. la
270 AN APrEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
their lot much preferable ? A sultry air, and clouds of smoke and dust,
are the element in which they labour. The confused noise of water
falling, steam hissing, fire engines working, wheels turning, files creak-
ing, hammers beating, ore bursting, and bellows roaring, form the dismal
concert that strikes the ears ; while a continual eruption of flames
ascending from the mouth of their artificial volcanoes, dazzle their eyes
with a horrible glare. Massy bars of hot iron are the heavy tools they
handle ; cylinders of the first magnitude the enormous weights they
heave ; vessels full of melted metal the dangerous loads they carry ;
streams of the same burning fluid the fiery rivers which they conduct
into the deep cavities of the subterraneous moulds ; and millions of flying
sparks, with a thousand drops of liquid, hissing iron, the horrible showers
to which they are exposed. See them cast ; you would think them in
a bath, and not in a furnace ; they bedew the burning sand with their
streaming sweat. Nor are their wet garments dried up, either by the
fierce fires that they attend, or the fiery streams which they manage.
Certainly, of aU men, these have reason to remember the just sentence
of an offended God : " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread
all the days of thy life."
All indeed do not go through the same toil ; but all have their share
of it, either in body or in mind. Behold the studious son of learning ;
his intense application hath wasted his flesh, exhausted his spirits, and
almost dried up his radical moisture. Consider the man of fortune :
can his thousands a 5 ear exempt him from the cui-se of Adam ? No :
he toils perhaps harder, in his sports and debaucheries, than the poor
ploughman that cultivates his estate.
View that corpulent epicure who idles away the whole day between
the festal board and the dozing couch. You may think that he, at least,
is free from the curse which I describe : but you are mistaken. While
he is living, as he thinks, a life of luxurious ease and gentle inactivity,
he fills himself with crude humours, and makes way for the gnawing
gout and racking gravel. See, even now, how strongly he perspires,
and with what uneasiness he draws his short breath and wipes his
dewy shining face : surely he toils under the load of an undigested
meal. A porter carries a burden upon his brawny shoulders, but this
wretch has conveyed one into his sick stomach. He will not work ; let
him alone, and ere long acute pains will bathe him in as profuse a
sweat as that of the fiirnace man ; and strong medicines will exercise
him to such a degree that he will envy even the collier's lot.
It is evident, therefore, that mankind are imder a curse of toil and
sweat,* according to the Divine sentence recorded by Moses ; and that
they are frequently condemned by Providence to as hard labour for life
as wretched felons rowing in the galleys or digging in the mines.f But
* It has been asserted that the short pleasure of eatinpr and drinking makes
amends for the severest toil. The best way to bring such idle sensual objectors to
reason would be to make them earn every meal by two or three hours' thrashing.
Beside, what great pleasure can those have in eating, who actually starve, or, to
just stay gnawing hunger, buy food coarser than that which their rich neighbours
give to their dogs ?
t God's image disinherited of day,
Here, plunged in mines, forgets a sun was made ;
SBCOKD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 271
as it is absolutely incredible that a good God, who by a word can supply
the wants of all his creatures, should have sentenced innocent mankind
to these inconceivable hardships to procure or enjoy the necessaries of
hfe, it is evident they are guilty, miserable offenders.
TENTH ARGUJIEIVT.
Hard labour and sweat make up but one of the innumerable calamities
incident to the wretched inhabitants of this world. Turn your eyes
which way you please, and you will see some flying from others groan-
ing under the rod of God ; and the greatest number busily making a
scourge for the backs of their fellow creatures or their own.
To pass over the misery of the brute creation : to say nothing of the
subtlety and rapaciousness with which (after the example of men*) they
lie in wait for and prey upon one another ; to cast a veil over the
agonies of millions that are daily stabbed, strangled, shot, and even
flayed, boiled, or swallowed up alive for the support of man's life, or
the indulgence of his luxury : and not to mention again the almost
uninterrupted cries of feeble infancy, only take notice of the tedious
confinement of childhood, the blasted schemes of youth, the anxious
cares of riper years, and the deep groans of wrinkled, decrepit, totter.
ing old age. Fix your attention on family trials ; here a prodigal father
ruins his children, or undutiful children break the hearts of their fond
parents ! There an unkind husband imbitters the life of his wife, or an
imprudent wife stains the honour of her husband : a sei^vant disobeys, a
relation misbehaves, a son lies ill, a tenant breaks, a neighbour provokes,
a rival supplants, a friend betrays, or an enemy triumphs. Peace seldom
continues one day.
Listen to the sighs of the afflicted, the moans of the disconsolate, the
complaints of the oppressed, and shrieks of the tortured. Consider the
deformity of the faces of some, and distortion or mutilation of the limbs
of others. To awaken your compassion,f here a beggar holds out the
stump of a thigh or an arm : there a ragged wretch hops after you
upon one leg and two crutches ; and a little farther you meet with a
poor creature using his hands instead of feet, and dragging through the
mire the cumbrous weight of a body without lower parts.
Imagine, if possible, the hardships o^' those who are destitute of one
of their senses : here the blind is guided by a dog, or gropes for his
way in the blaze of noon ; there the deaf lies on the brink of danger,
inattentive to the loudest calls : here sits the dumb, sentenced to eternal
silence ; there dribbles the idiot, doomed to perpetual childhood ; and
There, beings deathless as their haughty lord,
Are haminer'd to the galling oar for life,
And plough the winter's wave, and reap despair. Youno,
^ Eager ambition's fiery ciiase I see ;
I see the circling hunt of noisy men
Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounds of right,
Pursuing and pursued, each other's prey ;
As wolves for rapine ; as the fox for wiles ;
Till death, that mighty hunter, earths them all. YooNtJ,
t Some for hard masters broken under arms.
In battle lopp'd away, with half their limbs,
Beg bitter bread through realms their valour sav'd. Youxa,
272 AN ArPE.VL TO MATTER OF FACT- [pART
yonder the paralytic shakes without intermission, or lies senseless, the
frightful image of a living corpse.
Leaving these wretched creatures, consider the tears of the dis-
appointed, the sorrows of the captives, the anxieties of the accused, the
fears of the guilty, and terrors of the condemned. Take a turn through
jails, inquisitions, houses of correction, and places of execution. Pro-
ceed to the mournful rooms of the languishing and wearisome beds of
the sick : and let not the fear of seeing human wo, in some of its most
deplorable appearances, prevent you from visiting hospitals, infiiinaries,
and bedlams : —
A place
Before our eyes appears, sad, noisome, dark,
A lazar house it seems, wherein are laid
Numbers of all diseased ; all maladies
Of ghastly spasm or racking torture, qualms
Of heart-sick agony, all fev'rous kinds,
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs.
Intestine stone, and ulcer, colic pangs.
Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy.
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy.
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
Dropsies and asthmas, and joint- racking rheum.,.
Dire is the tossing ! Deep the groans ! Despair
Attends the sick, busiest from couch to couch :
And over them triumphant death his dart
Shakes ; but delays to strike, though oft invok'd
With vows, as their chief good, and final hope. Milton.
To close the horrible prospect, view the ruins of cities and kingdoms,
the calamities of wrecks emd sieges, the horrors of sea fights and fields
of battle ; with all the crimes, devastations, and cruelties tliat accompany
revenge, contention, and war ; and you will be obliged to conclude with
Job, that corrupt " man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward ;"
with David, that " the earth is full of darkness and cruel habitations ;"
and with every impartial inquirer, that our depravity and God's justice
concur to make this world a " vale of tears" as well as a field of toll and
sweat. A vast prison for rebels already " tied with the chains of their
sins," a boundless scaffold for their execution, a Golgotha, an Aceldama^
an immense field of torture and hlood.
Some will probably say, " This picture of the world is drawn with
black lines, but kinder Providence blends light and shade together, and
tempers our calamities with numberless blessings." I answer : it can-
not be too thankfully acknowledged, that while patience suspends the
.stroke of justice, God, for Christ's sake, restores us a thousand forfeited
blessings, that his goodness may lead us to repentance. But, alas ! what
is the consequence where Divine grace does not prove victorious over
corrupt nature ? To all our sins do we not add the crime of either
enjoying the favours of Providence with the greatest ingratitude, or of
abusing them with the most provoking insolence ?
Our actions are far more expressive of our real sentiments than our
words. " Why this variety of exquisite food ?" says the voluptuary,
whose life loudly speaks what his Ups dare not utter : " why this
aiiundance of delicious wines, but to tempt my unbridled appetite and
please my luxurious palate ?" " Would God have given softness to
SECOND.! AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 273
silks, brightness to colours, and lustre to diamonds?" says the self,
applauding smile of a foolish virgin who worships herself in a glass :
" would he have commanded the white of the hly thus to meet the blush
of the rose, and heighten so elegant a proportion of features, if he had
not designed that the united powers of art, dress, and beauty, should
make me share his Divine honours ?" " Why are we blessed with dear
children and amiable friends," says the ridiculous behaviour of fond
parents and raptured lovers, " but that we should suspend our happiness
on their ravishing smiles, and place them as favourite idols in the
shrine of our hearts ?" " And why has Heaven favoured me both with
a strong constitution and an affluent fortune," says the rich slave of
brutish lusts, " but that I may drink deeper of earthly joys and sensual
delights ?"
Thus blessings, abused or unimproved, become curses in our hands,
God's indulgence encourages us to offend him : we have the fatal skill
of extractmg poison from the sweetest flowers, and madly turn the gitls
of Providence into weapons to attack our benefactor and destroy our-
selves. That there are then such perverted gifts does not prove that
mankind are innocent ; but that God's patience " endureth yet daily,"
and that a Saviour " ever liveth to make intercession for us."
Should it be farther objected, that " our pleasures counterbalance our
calamities ;" I answer, The greatest part of mankind are so oppressed
with want and cares, toil and sickness, that their intervals of ease may
rather be termed " an alleviation of misery" than " an enjoyment of
happiness." Our pains are real and lasting, our joys imaginary and
momentary. Could we exercise all our senses upon the most pleasing
objects, the tooth ache would render all insipid and burthensome : a fit
of the gout alone damps every worldly joy, while all earthly delights
together cannot give us ease under it : so vastly superior is the bitter-
ness of one bodily pain to the sweetness of all the pleasures of sense !
If objectors still urge that "sufferings are needful for our trial ;" I
reply. They are necessary for our punishment and correction, but not for
our trial. A good king can try the loyalty of his subjects without
putting them to the rack. Let Nero and Bonner try the innocent by all
sorts of tortures, but let not their barbarity be charged upon a God
stx'ictly just and infinitely good.
However, " calamities prove a blessing to some ;" and so does trans-
portation : but whoever inferred from thence that reformed felons were
transported lor the Uial of their virtue, and not for the punishment of
their crimes ? I conclude, therefore, that our calamities and miseries
demonstrate our corniption as strongly as the punishments of the basti-
nado and pillory, appointed by an equitable judge, prove the guilt of
those on whom they are frequently and severely inflicted.
ELEVENTH ARGUMENT.
Would to God the multiplied calamities of life were a sufficient
punishment lor our desperate wickedness ! But, alas ! they only make
way for the pangs of death. Like traitors, or rather like wolves and
vipers, to which the Son of God compares natural men, we are all
devoted to destruction. Yes, as we kill those mischievous creatures, so
God destroys the sinful sons of men.
Vol. in. 18
274 AN APPEAL TO MATTEK OF FACT. [PART
If the reader is offended, and denies the mortifying assertion, let him
visit with me the mournful spot where thousands are daily executed, and
where hundreds make this moment their dying speech. I do not mean
what some call " the bed of honour," a field of battle, but a common
death bed.
Observing, as we go alpng, those black trophies of the king of terrors,
those escutcheons which preposterous vanity fixes up in honour of the
deceased, when kind charity should hang them out as a warning to the
living : let us repair to those mournful apartments where weeping
attendants support the dying, where swooning friends embrace the dead,
or whence distracted relatives carry out the pale remains of all their joy.
Guided by their groans and funeral hghts let us proceed to the dreary
chamel houses and calvaries, which we decently call vaults and church
yards; and without stopping to look at the monuments of some, whom
my objector remembers as vigorous as himself ; and of others who were
perhaps his partners in nightly revel ; let us hasten to see the dust of his
mouldered ancestors, and to read upon yonder coffins the dear name of
a parent, a child, perhaps a wife, turned off from his bosom into the gulf
of eternity.
If this sight does not convince him, I shall open one of the noisome
repositories, and show him the deep hollow of those eyes that darted
tender sensation into his soul ; and odious reptiles fastening upon the
once charming, now ghastly face, he doted upon. But methinks he
turns pale at the very proposal, and rather than be confronted with such
witnesses, acknowledges that he is condemned to die, with all his dear
relatives, and the whole human race.
And is this the case ? Are we then under sentence of death ? How
awful is the consideration ! Of all the things that nature dreads, is not
death the most terrible ? And is it not (as being the greatest of temporal
evils) appointed by human and Divine laws for the punishment of capi-
tal offenders ; whether they are named felons and traitors, or more gen-
teelly called men and sinners 1 Let matter of fact decide.
While earthly judges condemn murderers and traitors to be hanged or
beheaded, does not "the Judge of all" sentence smful mankind either to
pine away with old age, or be wasted with consumptions, burned with
fevers, scalded with hot humours, eaten up with cancers, putrefied by
mortifications, suffocated by asthmas, strangled by quinsies, poisoned by
the cup of excess, stabbed with the knife of luxury, or racked to death
by disorders as loathsome and accidents as various as their sins ?
If you consider the circumstances of their execution, where is the
material difference between the malefactor and the sinner ? The jailer
and the turnkey confine the one to his cell : the disorder and the physi-
cian confine the other to his bed. The one lives upon bread and water :
the other upon draughts and boluses. The one can walk with his fetters :
the other loaded with blisters can scarcely turn himself. The one enjoys
freedom from pain, and has the perfect use of his senses : the other
complains he is racked all over, and is fi-equently delirious. The exe-
cutioner does his office upon the one in a lew minutes : but the physi-
cian and his medicines make the other linger for days before he can die
out of his misery. An honest sheriff and constables, armed with staves,
wait upon one ; while a greedy undertaker and his party, with like
SECOND.! AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 275
emblems of aulhority, accompany the other : and if it is any advantage
to have a numerous attendance^ without comparison the felon has the
greater train.
When the pangs of death are over, does not the difference made
between the corpses consist more in appearance than reality? The
murderer is dissected in the surgeon's hall gratis, and the rich sinner is
embowelled ui his own apartment at great expense. The robber,
exposed to open air, wastes away in hoops of iron ; and the gentleman,
confined to a damp vault, moulders away in sheets of lead : and while
the fowls of the air greedily prey upon the one, the vermin of the earth
eagerly devour the other.
And if you consider them as launching into the world of spirits, is
not the advantage, in one respect, on the malefactor's side ? He is
solemnly assured he must die ; and when the death warrant comes down,
all about him bid him prepare and make the best of his short time : but
the physician and chaplain, friends and attendants, generally flatter the
honourable sinner to the last : and what is the consequence ? He either
sleeps on in carnal security, till death puts an end to all his delusive
dreams ; or if he has some notion that he must repent, for fear of dis-
composing his spirits, he still puts it off till to-morrow : and in the midst
of his delays God says, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required
of thee." What wonder is it, then, if, when the converted thief goes from
the ignominious tree to paradise, the impenitent rich man passes from
his " purple bed" into an awful eternity, and there " lifts up his eyes" in
unexpected " torments ?"
If these are truths too obvious to be denied, wilt thou, sinner, as the
thoughtless vulgar, blunt their edge by saying, with amazing unconcern,
" Death is a debt we must all pay to natui'e ?" Alas ! this is granting
the point ; for if all have contracted so dreadful a debt, all are in a cor-
rupt and lost estate. Nor is this debt to be paid to nature, but to justice ;
otherwise dying would be as easy as sleeping, or any other natural
action : but it is beyond expression terrible to thee from whose soul the
Redeemer has not extracted sin, the monster's sti7ig: and if thou dost
not see it now in the most alarming light, it is because either thou
iniaginest it at a great distance, or the double veil of rash presumption
and brutish stupidity is yet upon thy hardened heart.
Or wilt thou, as the poor heathen, comfort thyself with the cruel
thought, that " thou shalt not die alone ?" Alas ! dying companions may
increase, but camiot take off the horror of dissolution. Beside, though
we live in a crowd, we generally die alone : each must drink the bitter
cup, as if he were the only mortal in the universe.
What must we do then in such deplorable circumstances? What but
humble ourselves in the dust, and bow low to the sceptre of Divine jus-
tice ; confessing that since the righteous God has condemned us to cer-
tain death, and in general to a far more lingering and painful death than
murderers and traitors are made to undergo, we are certainly degene-
rate creatures, and capital offenders, who stand in absolute need of an
almighty Redeemer.
Permit me now, candid reader, to make a solemn appeal to thy rea-
son, assisted by the fear of God. From all that has been advanced, docs
It not aj)pear that man is no more the favoured, happy, and imiocent
276 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. frART
creature he was, when he came out of the hands of his infinitely gracious
Creator ? And is it not evident that, whether we consider him as bom
into this disordered world, or dying out of it, or passing from the womb
to the grave, under a variety of calamitous circumstances, God's provi.
dential dealings with him prove that he is by nature in a corrupt and
lost estate ?
A part, how small I of this terraqueous globe
Is tenanted by man, the rest a waste,
Rocks, deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands.
Wild haunts of monsters, poisons, stings, and death.
Such is eartli's melancholy map I But far
More sad, this earth is a true map of man ;
So bounded are its haughty lord's delights
To wo's wide empire, where deep troubles toss,
Loud sorrows howl, envenom'd passions bite,
Ravenous calamities our vitals seize,
And threatening fate wide opens to devour ! Younq.
PART III.
We have hitherto considered man as a miserable inhabitant of a
wretched world. We have seen him surrounded by multitudes of wants ;
pursued by legions of distresses, maladies, and woes ; arrested by the
king of terrors ; cast into the grave ; and shut up there, the loathsome
prey of corruption and worms. Let us now consider him as a mwal
agent ; and by examining his disposition, character, and conduct, let us
see whether he is wisely punished, according to the sentence of impar-
tial justice ; or wantonly tormented, at the caprice of arbitrary power.
We cannot help acknowledging it is highly reasonable, First, that all
intelligent creatures should love, reverence, and obey their Creator ;
because he is most eminently their Father, their Master, and their King :
Secondly, they should assist, support, and love each other as fellow sub-
jects, fellow servants, and children of the same universal Parent : and.
Thirdly, that they should preserve their souls and bodies in peace and
piu'ity ; by which means alone they can be happy in themselves, profit,
able to man, and acceptable to God. This is what we generally call
natural religion, which is evidently founded upon eternal reeison, the fit-
ness of things, and the essential relation of persons.
The propriety of these sanctions is so self evident, that " the Gentiles,
who have not the iDritlen law, are a law unto themselves, and do (but
alas! how seldom, and from what motives !) the things contained in the
law :" thus "showing that the work," the sum and substance "of the
law," though much blotted by the fall, is still " written in their heart."
Nor will it be erased thence in hell itself; for nothing but- a sight of the
equity of God's law can clear his vindictive justice in the guilty breast,
give a scorpioii's sling to the worm that gnaws the stubborn offender,
and arm his upbraiding conscience with a whip of biting serpents.
Since the moral law so strongly recommends itself to reason, let us
SCO how universally it is observed or broken : so shall matter of fact
decide whether we arc pure and upright, or polluted and depraved.
THIRD.] AX APPEAL TO MATTER OP FACT. 277
TWELFTH ARGU3IENT.
Those who reject the Scriptures, universally agree that "all have
sinned ;" and that " in many things we offend all." Hence it appears
that persons of various constitutions, ranks, and education, in all nations,
religions, times, and places, are born in such a state, and with such a
nature, that they infallibly commit many sins in thought, word, or deed.
But one transgression would be sufficient to render them obnoxious to
God's displeasure, and to bring them under the fearful curse of his
broken law : for, even according to the statutes of this realm, a man who
once robs a traveller of a small sum of money, forfeits his life, as well
as the bloody higliw-ayman, who for years barbarously murders all those
whom he stops, and accumulates immense wealth by his repeated bar-
barities.
The reason is obvious : both incur the penalty of the law which for-
bids robbery ; for both effectually break it, though one does it oftener
and with more aggravating circumstances than the other. So sure then
as one robbery deserves the gallows, one sin deserves deatli. " The
soul that sinneth," says God's law, and not the soul that committeth so
many sins, of such and sucli a hcinousness, " it shall die." Hence it is,
that the first sin of the first man wafe punished both with spiritual and
bodily death, and with ten thousand other evils. The justice of this
sanction will appear in a satisfactory light, if we consider the following
remarks : —
1. In our present natural state Ave are such strangers to God's glory
and the spirituality of his law ; and we are so used " to drink" the deadly
poison of " iniquity like water," that we have no idea of the horror which
should seize upon us after a breach of the Divine law. We are, there-
fore, as unfit judges of the atrociousness of sin, as lawless, hardened
assassins, who shed human blood like water, are of the heinousness of
murder.
2. As every wilful sin arises from a disregard of that sovereign autho-
rity M'hich is equally stamped upon all the commandments, it hath in it
the principle and nature of all possible iniquity ; that is, the disregard
and contempt of the Almighty.
3. There is no proper merit before God, in the longest and most exact
course of obedience, but infinite demerit in one, even the least act of
wilful disobedience. " When we have done all that is commanded us,
we are slill unprofitable servants ;" for the self-sufficient God has no
more need of us than a mighty monarch of the vilest insects that creep
in the dust beneath his feet : and our best actions, strictly speaking,
deserve absolutely nothing from our Creator and Presei"ver, because we
owe him all we have and are, and can possibly do. But if we trans-
gress in one point, we ruin all our obedience, and expose ourselves to
the just penalty of his broken law. The following example may illus-
trate this observation : —
If a rich man gives a Owusand meals to an indigent neighbour, he acts
only as a man, he does nothing but his duty ; and the judge allows him
110 reward. But if he gives him only one dose of poison, he acts as a
7nurderer, and must die a shameful death. So greatly does one act of
2(8 AN APPEAL TO :\IATTr.R OP FACT. [PART
sin outweigh a thousand acts of obedience ! How exceedingly absurd,
then, is the common notion, that our good works counterbalance our bad
ones ! Add to this, that —
4. Guilt necessarily arises in proportion to the baseness of the offender,
the greatness of the fkvours conferred upon him, and the dignity of the
person offended : an insulting behaviour to a servant is a fault, to a
magistrate it is a crime, to a king it is treason. And what is wilful sin,
but an injury offered by an impotent rebel to the infinitely powerful Law-
giver of the universe, to the kindest of Benefactors, to the gracious Crea-
tor and Preserver of men : an insult given to the supreme Majesty of
heaven and earth, in whose glorious presence the dignity of the greatest
potentates and archangels as truly disappears, as the splendour of the
stars in the blaze of the meridian sun ? Sin, therefore, flying into the
face of such a Lawgiver, Benefactor, and Monarch, has m it a kind of
infinite demerit from its infinite Object ; and rebellious, ungrateful,
wretched man, who commits it a thousand times with a thousand aggra-
vations, may, in the nervous language of our Church, be said, in some
sense, to deserve a thousand hells, if there were so many.
THIRTEENTH ARGU5IENT.
Our natural depravity manifests itself by constant omissions of duty,
as much as by flagrant commissions of sin, and perhaps much more.
Take one instance out of many that might be produced. Constant dis-
plays of preserving goodness, and presents undeservedly and uninter-
ruptedly bestowed upon us, deserve a perpetual tribute of heartfelt
gratitude : God demands it in his law ; and conscience, liis agent m our
souls, declares it ought in justice to be paid. But where shall we find
a Deist properly conscious of what he owes the Supreme Being for his
" creation, preseiTation, and all the blessings of this hfe ?" and where
a Christian duly sensible of " God's inestimable love in the redemption
of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ?" A due sense of his ever-multi-
phed mercies would fill our souls with never-ceasing wonder, and make
our hps overflow with rapturous praise. The poet's language would
suit our grateful sensations, and without exaggeration paint the just
ardour of" our transports : —
Bound every heart, and every bosom burn :
Praise, flow for ever ; (if astonishment
Will give thee leave ;) our praise, for ever flow ;
Praise, ardent, cordial, constant, &c.
Is not any thing short of this thankful frame of mind a sin of omission,
a degree of ingratitude, of which all are naturally guilty ; and for which,
it is to be feared, the best owe ten thousand talents both to Divine good-
ness and justice ?
Throw only a few bones to a dog and you win him : he follows j'ou ;
your word becomes his law : upon the first motion of your hand he flies
through land and water to execute your commands : obedience is his
delight, and your presence his paradise ; he convinces you of it by all
the demonstrations of joy which he is capable of giving : and if he un-
happily loses sight of yon, he exerts all ili^^ sagacity to trace your foot-
steps ; nor will lie rest till he finds liis benefactor again.
THIRD.] AX APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 279
Shall a brute be so thankful to a man for some offals, while man him-
self is so full of ingratitude to God who created him, preserves his life
from destrucrion, and hourly crowns him with mercies and loving kind-
ness ! How should shame cover our guilty faces ! Surely, if the royal
prophet could say, " He was a beast before God," may we not well con-
fess that in point of gratitude we are worse than the dullest and most
stupid part of the brute creation? For even "the ox," says the Lord,
"knoweth his owner," and "the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth
not know" me, "my people do not consider" my daily favours. And
if the very heathens affirmed that " to call a man ungrateful " to a human
benefactor, " was to say of him all possible evil in one word ;"* how can
we express the baseness and depravity of mankind, who are universally
so ungrateful to so bounteous a benefactor as God himself!
FOURTEENTH ARGUMENT.
But though we seem made of cold inattention, when the sight of
Divine mercies -should kindle our hearts into gratitude and praise, we
soon get out of this languid frame of mind : for, in the pursuit of sensual
gratifications, we are all activity and warmth ; we seem an ardent com-
pound of fife and fire.
What can be the reason of this amazing difference? What but
rebellious sense and wanton appetite, raised at the sight and idea of
some forbidden object ! The bait of pleasure appears, corrupt nature
summons all her powers, every nerve of expectation is stretched, every
pulse of desire beats high, the blood is in a general fennent, the spirits
are in a universal hurry, and though the hook of a fatal consequence is
often apparent, the alluring bait must be swallowed. The fear of God,
the most inestimable of all treasures is already gone ; and if the sinful
gratification cannot be enjoyed upon any other tenm, a good reputation
shall ffo also. Reason indeed makes remonstrances ; but the loud
clamours of flesh and blood soon drown her soft whispers. The carnal
mind steps imperiously upon the throne ; sense, that conquers the greatest
conquerors, bears down all opposition ; the yielding man is led captive
by a brutish lust ; and while angels blush, there is joy in hell over the
actual and complete degradation of a heaven-born spirit.
Some indeed affirm that these conflicts suit a state of probation and
trial. But it is evident that either our temptations are too violent for
our strength, or our strength too weak for our temptations ; since, not-
withstanding the additional help of Divine grace, there never was a mere
mortal over whom they never ti-iumphed.
Nor can we exculpate ourselves by pleading that these triumphs of
sense over reason are neither long nor frequent. Alas ! how many
perpetrate an act of wickedness in a moment, and suffer death itself for
a crime which they never repeated !
See that crystal vessel. Its brightness and brittleness represent the
shining and delicate nature of true virtue. If I let it fall and break it,
what avails it to say, " I never broke it before : I dropped it but once ;
I am excessively sorry for my carelessness : I will set the pieces toge-
ther, and never break it again ?" Will these excuses and resolutions
* Ingratnm si dixeris, omnia dicis. — Juv.
280 AN' APPEAL TO Matter of fact. [part
prevent tlie vessel from being broken — broken for ever? Tlie reader
may easily make the application.
Even heathen moralists, by their fabulous account of the companions
of Ulysses turned into swine, upon drinking once of Circe's enchanted
cup, teach us that one fall into sensuality turns a man into a brute, just
as one slip into unchastity or dishonesty changes a modest woman into
a strumpet, or an honest man into a thief. Again :
Ought not reason to have as absolute a command over appetite as a
skilful rider has over a well.bi-oken hoi'se? But suppose we saw all
horsemen universally mastered, one time or other, by their beasts ; and
forced, though but for a few minutes, to receive the bit, and go or stop
at the pleasure of the wanton brutes : should we not wonder, and justly
infer, that man had lost the kind of superiority which he still maintains
over domestic animals? And what then, but the commonness of the
case, can prevent our being shocked, when we see rational creatures
overcome and led captive by carnal appetites? Is not this the wanton,
rebelUous beast mounting upon his vanquished, dastardly rider ?
We may then conclude that the universal rebellion of our lower facul-
ties against our superior powers, and the triumphs of sense over reason,
demonstrate that human nature has suffered as fatal a revolution as these
kingdoms did when a degraded king was seen bleeding on the scaffold,
and a base usurper lording it in the seat of majesty.
FIFTEENTH ARGUMENT.
Happy would it be for us if our fall manifested itself only by som/>
transient advantages of sense over reason. But, alas ! the experience
of the best demonstrates the truth of Isaiah's words : " The whole head
is sick."
To say nothing of the gross stupidity, and unconquerable ignorance,
that keep the generality of mankind just above the level of bmtes, how
strong, how clear is the understanding of men of sense in worldly
affairs ! How weak, how dark in spiritual things ! How few idiots are
there but can distinguish between the shadow and the substance, the cup
and the liquor, the dress and the person ! But how many learned men,
to this day, see no difference between water baptism and spiritual rege-
neration, between the means of grace and grace itself, between " the
form " and " the power of godliness !" At our devotions is not our mind
generally like the roving butterfly : and at our favourite diversions and
lucrative business, like the fastening leech ? Can it not fix itself on any
thing sooner than on " the one thing needful ;" and find out any way
before that of peace and salvation ?
What can be more extravagant than our imagination ? How often
have we caught tliis wild power forming and pursuing phantoms, build-
ing and pulling down castles in the air ! How frequently hath it raised
us into proud conceits, and then sunk us into gloomy apprehensions!
And where is the man that it never led into such mental scenes of vanity
and lewdness, as would have made him the object of universal contempt,
if the veil of a grave and modest countenance had not happily con-
cealed him from public notice ?
And has our memory escaped unimpaired by the fall ? Alas ! let us
only consider how easily wc forget the favours of our Creator, and recol-
THIRD.) AX APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 281
lect the injuries ofour fellow creatures ; how little we retain of a good
book or pious di.scourse, and how much of a play or frivolous conversa-
tion ; and how exactly we remember an invitation to a party of pleasure,
while the loudest calls to turn to God and prepare for death are no
sooner heard than forgotten. Let us, I say, consider these things, and
we shall be forced to confess, that this useful power loses like a sieve
the living water of ti*uth, drinks in like a sponge the muddy streams of
vanity, and is never so retentive as when it is excited by revenge, or
some other detestable temper.
" A wretch that is condemned to die to-morrow canliot forget it,"
says Baxter ; " yet poor simiers, who are uncertain to live an hour, and
certain speedily to see the majesty of the Lord, to their inconceivable joy
or terror, can forget these things, for which they have their memory ; and
which, one would think, should drown the matters of this world, as the
report of a cannon does a whisper, or as the sun obscures the poorest
glowworm. O wonderful stupidity of an unregenerate soul ! O astonish,
ing distraction of the ungodly ! That ever men can forget eternal joy,
eternal wo, the eternal God, and the place of their unchangeable abode ;
when they stand even at the door, and there is but the thin veil of flesh
between them and that amazing sight, that eternal gulf, into which thou-
sands are daily plunging !"
Nor does our reason* make us amends for the defects of our other
faculties. Its beams, it is true, wonderfully guide some persona through
the circle of sciences, and the mazes of commercial or political affairs.
But when it should lead us in search of "the truth which is after godh-
ness," unless it is assisted from above, how are its faint rays obstructed
by the gross medium of flesh and blood, broken by that of passion, and
sometimes lost in that of prejudice ! Wise sons of reason, learned phi-
losophers, your two hmidred and eighty-eight opinions concerning the
chief good, are a multiplied proof of my sad assertion : all miss the
mark. Not one of them makes the supreme felicity to consist in the
knowledge and enjoyment of God, the amiable and adorable Parent of
all good.
Ti-ue reason, alas ! is as rare as true piety. The poor thing which,
in spiritual matters, the world calls reason, is only the ape of that noble
faculty. How partial, how unreasonable^ is this false pretender ! If it
does not altogether overlook the awful realities of the Invisible, which is
too frequently the case, how busy is it to reason away faith, and raise
objections against the most e\ident truth,| even that which I now con-
* By reason, I mean that power by which we pass judgment upon, and draw
inferences from, what llio understanding has simply apprehended.
t Our earth 's the Bedlam of tlie universe,
Where reason (undiseas'd in heaven) runs mad.
And nurses foil i/s children as her own,
Fond of the foulest. Young.
t A late publication in vindication of Pelagianism appears to me no small
instance of tliis. The Rev. author takes his estimate of human nature, not from
universal experience, but his indulged imagination ; not from St. Paul, tlie chief
of the apostleB, but from Dr. Taylor, "to whom he acknowledges liis obligations
for several of the best passages in his sermon." Passing over the exposition of
his text, where he boldly supposes tliat our Lord meant, by the drawings of God,
■tlje natural powers of man ; which is as reasonable as to suppose that wlien h«
282 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT, [PART
tend for ! and when right reason has been worsted by sense, how ready
is the impostor to plead against the facultj' which it personates ! How
skilful in cloaking bad habits under the genteel name of " human
foibles !" And how ingenious in defending the most irrational and dan-
gerous methods of losing time, as " innocent sports and harmless
diversions !"
These obsei'vations, which must appear self evident to all who know
the world or themselves, incontestably prove the degeneracy of all our
rational powers, and consequently tlie universahty of our natural cor-
ruption.
SIXTEENTH ARGUMENT.
When "the whole head is sick," is not "the whole heart faint?"
Can our will, conscience, and affections, run parallel to the line of duty,
when our understanding, imagination, memory, and reason, are so much
warped from original rectitude ? Impossible ! Experience, thou best
of judges, I appeal to thee. Erect thy fair tribunal in the reader's breast,
and bear an honest testimony to the truth of the following assertions : —
Our WILL, in general, is full of obstinacy. We must have our own
said, " Without me you can do nothing," he meant that me should signify our-
selves : — passing this over, I shall just point out his capital mistake. He tells us
that " all our faculties and powers are good and beautiful in their order," (that
they were so before the fall is fully granted,) "and tend naturally to the happi-
ness both of the individual and the system ;" and he adds, that " how weak soever
and imperfect our intellectual faculties may be, yet to speak reproachfully of
them in general is a species of blasphemy against our Creator." If to expose the
present weakness of our rational faculties, and show how greatly they are dis-
ordered and impaired by the fall, is what this divine calls " speaking reproachfully
of them," have not the best men been found guilty of this pretended blasphemy ?
How far the apostles and reformers carried it may be seen in the first part of this
treatise. How he can clear himself of it, as a subscriber to the 9th, 10th, and
35th articles of our Church, I cannot see : and by what means ho will justify his
conduct to the world, in receiving hundreds a year to maintain the doctrine of
the Church of England, while he publicly expresses it a species of blasphemy, is
still a greater mystery. Far from seeing that all the faculties and powers, by
which this is done, ai-e good and beautiful, I cannot help thinking some of them
are materially defective ; and though such a conduct may very much tend to the
emolument of the individual, it has little tendency to the happiness of the system.
For my part, were I to commence advocate for the uprightness of human nature,
I would save appearances, lest Dr. Taylor himself should say, Non defensoribus
istis, ij-c. But, dropping this point, I appeal to common sense, who is most
guilty of blasphemy against our Creator; he who says God made man both holy
and happy, affirming that tlie present weakness of our rational powers is entirely
owing to the original apostasy of mankind ; or he who intimates that the gra-
cious Author ofour being formed our intellectual faculties weak and imperfect as
they now are ? If it is not the latter, my understanding is strangely defective. —
In vain does this learned divine tell us, that "the candle of the Lord, which was
lighted up in man at first, when the inspiration of the Almighty gave him under-
standing, was not extinguished by the original apostasy, but has kept burning
ever since," and "that the Divine flame has catched from father to son, and has
been propagated quite down to the present generation :" if it is reasonable to
charge with a species of blasphemy those who reverence their Creator too much,
to father our present state of imperfection upon him, I must confess my reason
fails: I have outlived the Divine flame for one, or it never catched from my father
to 7ne. A fear lest some well-meaning person should mistake the taper of Pela-
gius, or the lamp of Dr. Taylor, for " the candle of the Lord," and follow it in
the destructive paths of error, extorts this note from my pen. See the objections
that follow the twenty-eecond argument.
THIRD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF TACT. 283
way, right or wrong. It is pregnant with inconstancy. We are pas.
sionately fond of a tiling one day, and are tired of it the next. We form
good resohitions in the niornuig, and brealt them before night. It is
impotent. When we see what is right, instead of doing it witli all our
might, we frequently remain as inactive as if we were bound by invisible
ciiains ; and we wonder by what charm the wheels of duty thus stop
against our apparent inclinations, till we discover that the spring of our
will is broken, or naturally works the wrong way. Yes, it is not only
unable to follow the good that the understanding approves, but full of
perverseness to pursue the evil that reason disapproves. We are prone
to do, contrary to our design, those things which breed remorse and
wound conscience ; and, sooner or later, we may all say, with the hea-
then princess, who was going to murder her child, —
Video meliora, prohoque,
Deteriora sequoi.*
Nor is CONSCIENCE itself untainted. Alas ! how slow is it to reprove
in some cases ! In others, how apt not to do it at all ! In one person
it is easy under mountains of guilt ; and in another it is unreasonably
scmpulous about mere trifles : it either " strains at a gnat," or " swaU
lows a camel." When it is alarmed, in some it shows itself ready to
be made easy by eveiy wrong method ; in others, it obstinately refuses
to be pacified by the right. To-day you may with propriety compare
it to a dumb dog, that does not bark at a thief; and to-morrow to a
snarling cur, that flies indifierently at a friend, a foe, or a shadow ; and
then madly turns upon himself, and tears his own flesh.
If conscience, the best power of the unconverted man, is so corrupt,
good God ! what are his affections ? Almost perpetually deficient in
some, and excessive in others, when do they attain to, or stop at, the
line of moderation ? AVho can tell how oft he has been the sport of their
irregularity and violence ? One hour we are hurried into rashness by
their impetuosity ; the next, we are bound in sloth by their mactivity.
Sometimes every blast of foolish hope, or ill-grounded fear ; every gaJe
of base desire, or unreasonable aversion ; every wave of idolatrous love,
or sinful hatred ; every surge of misplaced admiration, or groundless
horror ; every billow of noisy joy, or undue sorrow, tosses, raises, or
sinks our soul, as a ship in a storm, which has neither rudder nor ballast.
At other times we are totally becalmed ; all our sails are furled ; not
one breath of devout or human affection stirs in our stoical, frozen breast ;
and we remain stupidly insensible, till the spark of temptation, dropping
upon the combustible matter in our hearts, blows up again into loud
passion; and then, how dreadful and ridiculous together is the new
explosion !
If experience pronounces that these reflections are just, the point is
gained. Our " whole heart is faint," through the unaccountable disor-
ders of our liiU, the lethargy or boisterous fits of our conscience, and the
swooning or high fever of our affections ; and we may, without hypoc-
risy, join in our daily confession, and say, " There is no health in us."
* If the leador wants to know the English of these words, lie may find it,
Rom. vii, 15.
284 A>: APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. fi'AKT
SEVE^'TEENTH ARGUMENT.
The dangei* of these comphcated maladies of our souls evidences itself
by the most fatal of all symptoms, our manifest alienation from God. Yes,
shocking as the confession is, we must make it, if truth has any dominion
in our breast : — Unrenewed man loves not his God. That eternal Beauty,
tor whose contemplation, that supreme Good, for whose enjoyment he
was created, is generally forgotten, despised, or haled. If the thought
of his holy Majesty presents itself, he looks upon it as an intruder. It
lays him under as disagreeable a restraint as that which the presence of
a grave, pious master, puts upon a wanton, idle servant. Nor can he
quietly pursue his sinful courses till he has driven away the troublesome
idea ; or imagined, with the epicui-e, a careless God, who wants resolu-
tion to call him to an account, and justice to punish him for his iniquity.
Does any one offer an indignity to his favourite friend, or only speak
contemptibly of the object of his esteem, he feels as if he was the person
insulted, and, reddening with indignation, directly espouses his cause.
But every body, the meanest of his attendants not excepted, may with
impunity insult the King of kings in his presence, ajid take the most pro-
fane liberties with his name and word, his laws and ministers ; he hears
the wild blasphemy, and regards it not ; lie sees the horrid outrage, and
resents it not ; and yet, with amazing infatuation, he pretends to love
God !
If he goes to the play, he can fix his roving eyes and wandering mind
three hours together upon the same trifling objects, not only without
Aveariness, but with uncommon dehght. If he has an appointment witli
a person whom he adores as a deity, his spirits are elevated, expectation
and joy flutter in his dilated breast ; he sweetly anticipates the pleasing
interview, or impatiently chides the slowly flowing minutes : his feelings
are inexpressible. But if he attends the great congi-egation, which he
too oflen omits upon the most frivolous pretences, it is rather out of form
and decency, than out of devotion and love ; rather with indifference or
reluctance, than with delight and transport. And when he is present
there, how absent are his thoughts ! How wandering his eyes ! How
trifling, supine, irrelevant his whole behaviour ! He would be ashamed
to speak to the meanest of his servants with as little attention as he some-
times prays to the Majesty of heaven.* Were he to stare about when
he gives them orders, as he does when he presents his supplications to
the Lord of lords, he would be afraid that they would think he was half
drunk, or had a touch of lunacy.
Suppose he still retains a sense of outward decency, while the Church
goes through her solemn offices ; yet how heavy are his spirits ! how
heartless his confessions ! how cold his prayers ! The blessing comes
at last, and he is blessed indeed, not with " the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost," tor that he gladly leaves
* Men homage pay to men, ,,
Thoughtless beneath whose dreadful eye they bow !
In mutual awe profound, of clay to clay,
Of guilt to guilt, and turn their backs on Thee,
Great Sire I whom thrones celestial ceaseless sing;
To prostrate angels an amazing scene I Youno.
THIRl).] A?f APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 285
to " poor enthusiasts," but with a release from his confinement and tedious
work. And now that he has " done his duty, and served God," he hastes
away to the company that suits his taste.
See him there. Do not his very looks declare he is in his own cle-
ment? With what eagerness of spirit, energy of gesture, and volubility
of tongue, does he talk over his last entertainment, chase, or bargain?
Does not the oil of cheerfuhiess make all his motions as free and easy,
as if weight and friction had no place at all in his light and airy frame ?
Love of God, thou sweetest, strongest of all powei's ! didst thou evey
thus metamorphose his soul, and impart such a sprightly activity to his
body ? And you that converse most familiarly with him, did you ever
hear him say, " Come, and I will tell you what the Lord has done for
my soul. Taste and see how good the Lord is ?" No, never ; for " out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Nor can it be
expected that God, who hath no place in his joyous reflections, should
have one in his cheerful conversation. On the contrary, it will be matter
of svirprise to those who introduce the delightful subject of the love of
God, if he does not waive it off as dull, melancholy, or enthusiastical.
But, as he will give you to understand, " he is no hypocrite, and there-
fore confines devotion to his closet ;" follow him there. Alas ! he scarce
ever bends the knee to " Him that sees in secret :" or, if he says his
prayers as regularly as he winds his watch, it is much in the same spirit.
For suppose he docs not hurry them over, or cut them as short as pos-
sible ; yet the careless, formal manner in which he oflers them up,
indicates, as plainly as his public conduct, the aversion lurking in his
heart against God. And yet he fancies he loves him. With a sneer
that indicates self applause, and a Pharisaic contempt of others, " away
with your feelings and raptures," says he : " this is the love of God, that
we keep his commandments." But, alas ! which of them does he keep ?
Certainly not the first, — for the Lord is not the supreme object of his
hopes and fears, his confidence and joy ; nor yet the last, — for discontent
and wrong desires are still indulged in his selfish and worldly heart.
How unfortunate, therefore, is his appeal to the commandments, by which
his secret enmity to the law, government, and nature of God, is brought
to the clearest light !
EIGHTEENTH ARGUMENT.
But as the heartfelt love of God is supposed to be downright enthu-
siaism by some moralists, who, dasliing in pieces the first (able of the law
against the second, pretend that our duty to God consists in the love of
our neighbour, let us examine the unconverted man's charity, and see
whether he bears more love to his fellow creatures (haii to his Creator.
Nothing can be more erroneous than his notions oi' chariti/. He con-
founds it with the bare " giving of alms ;" not considering that it is
possible to do this kind of good liom the most selfish and uncharitable
motives. Therefore when the fear of being accounted covetous, the
desire of passing for generous, the vanity of seeing his name in a list of
noble subscril)crs, the shame of being outdone by liis ecjuals, the teazing
importunity of an obstinate beggar, the moving address of a solicitor
whom he would blush to deny, or the Pharisaic notion of making amends
for his sins, and purchasing heaven by his alms i — when any, 1 sayj of
286 AN AI'PKAL TO MATTER OF FACT. fPART
these sinister motives sets him upon assisting industrious poverty, reHev-
ing friendless old age, or supporting infirm and mutilated indigence, he
fancies that he gives an indubitable proof of his charity.
Sometimes, too, he affixes to that word the idea of a fond hope that
every body is going to heaven. For if you intimate that the rich volup-
tuary is not with Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, and that the foolish
virgins are not promiscuously admitted to glory with the wise, he won-
ders at " your unchaiitableness, and thanks God he never entertained
such unchristian tlioughts of his neighbours."
He considers not that cliarity is the fair offspring of the " love of God,"
to which he is yet an utter stranger ; and that it consists in a universal,
disinterested benevolence to all mankind, our worst enemies not excepted ;
a benevolence that sweetly evidences itself by bearing with patience the
evil which they do to us, and kindly doing them all the good we possibly
can, both with respect to their soul and body, their property and repu-
tation.
If this is a just definition of charity, the unrenewed man has not even
the outside of it. To prove it, I might appeal to his impatience and ill
humour: his unkind words and cutting railleries, (for I suppose him too
moral ever to slander or curse any one.) I might mention his superci-
lious behaviour to some, who are entitled to his affability as men, coun-
trymen, and neighbours : I might expatiate on his readiness to exculpate,
enrich, or aggrandize himself at the expense oi others, whenever he can
do it without exposing himself.
But, waiving all these particulars, I ask. Whom does he truly love ?
You answer, " Doubtless the person to whom he makes daily protesta-
tions of the warmest regard." But how does he prove this regard?
Why, perhaps by the most artful insinuations and dangerous attempts to
rob her of her virtue. Perhaps he has already gained his end. Un-
happy Magdalene ! How much better would it have been for thee to
have fallen into the hands of a highwayman ! Thou wouldst only have
lost thy money, but now thou art despoiled of the honour of thy sex, and
the peace of thy mind ; thou art robbed at once of virgin innocence, a
fair reputation, and possibly a healthy constitution. If this is a specimen
of the unconverted man's love, what must be his hatred ?
But I happily mistake : " he is no libertine, he has a virtuous wife
and amiable children, and he loves them," say you, " with the tenderest
afteclion." I reply, that these relations, being immm'tal spirits, confined
for a few years in a tenement of clay, and continually on the remove for
eternity ; his laudable regard for their frail bodies, and j)roper care of
their temporal prosperity, are not a sufficient proof that he loves them in
a right manner ; for even according to wise heathens,* our soul is our
better part, our true self. And what tender concern does the unrenewed
man fed for the soul of liis bosom friend? Does he regard it more
than the body of his groom, or the life of his horse ? Does he,
with any degree of importunity, carry it daily in the arms of love and
prayer, to the throne of grace for life and salvation? Does he, by good
instructions and a virtuous example, excite his children to secure an
eternal inheritance ? And is he at least as desirous to see them wise and
* Nos non corpora sumus : Corpus quidem vas est aut aliquod aniini recepla-
culum — Cic. Tunc. Qucest, lib. 1.
THIRD.] AN APPE.VXi TO MATTER OF I'ACT. 287
pious, as well bred, rich, handsome, and great ? Alas ! I fear it is just
the reverse. He is probably the first to poison their tender minds with
some of the dangerous maxims that vanity and ambition have invented ;
and, supposing he has a favourite dog, it is well if he is not more anxious
for the preservation of that one domestic animal, than for the salvation
of all their souls.
If these observations are founded upon matter of fact, as daily expe-
rience demonstrates, I appeal to common sense, and ask, Can the natiual
man, with all his fondness, be said to have a true love even for his nearest
relatives ? And is not the regard that he manifests for their bodies more
like the common instinct by which doves cleave to their mates, and swal-
lows provide for their young, than like the generous afTection which a
rational creature ought to bear to immortal spirits, awfully hovering in
a state of probation, which is just going to turn for hell or heaven !
nineteenth argument.
Nor is it surprising that the imrenewed man should be devoid of all
true love for his nearest relations ; for he is so completely fallen that he
bears no true love even for himself. Let us overlook those who cut their
throats, shoot, drown, or hang themselves. Let us take no notice of
those who sacrifice a yeai-'s heahh for a night's revel ; who inflame their
blood into fevers, or derive putrefaction in their bones, for the momentary
gratification of a shameful appetite ; and are so hot in the pursuit of a
base pleasure, that they leap after it even into the jaws of an untimely
grave. Let us, I say, pass by those innumerable, unhappy victims of
intemperance and debauchery, who squander their money upon panders
and harlots, and have as little regard for their health as for their fortune
and reputation ; and let us consider the case of those good-natured,
decent persons, who profess to have a real value for both.
Upon the principle laid down in the last argument, may I not ask,
What love have these for their immortal part, their true self? What do
they do for their souls ? Or rather, what do they not leave undone ?
And who can show less concern for their greatest interest than they ?
Alas ! in spiritual matters the wisest of them seem on a level with tlie
most foolish. They anxiously secure their title to a few possessions in this
transitory world, out of which the stream of time carries them with una-
bated impetuosity ; while they remain stupidly thoughtless of their por-
tion in the unchangeable world into which they are just going to launch ;*
they take particular notice of every trivial incident in life, every idle,
* Time flies, deatli urges, knells call, heaven invites,
Hell threatens I all exert ; in effort, all ;
More than creation labours I labours more I
And is there in creation, what, amidst
This lunuilt universal, wing'd despatch,
And ardent cnerjjy, supinely yawns ?
Man sleeps ; and 7nan alone ; and 7nan, whose fate,
Fate irreversiide, entire, extreme,
Endless, hair hung, breeze shaken, o'er the gulf
A moment trembles; drops! and irinn, for whom
All else is in alarm : man, the solo cause
Of this surrounding storm ! and 3'et he sleeps,
As the Btorm rock'd to rest. Younq.
288 AN .UTEAL TO MATTEK OF FACT. [PART
report raised in their neighbourhood, and supinely overlook the great
realities of death and judgment, hell and heaven.
You see them perpetually contriving how to preserve, indulge, and
adorn their dying bodies ; and daily neglecting the safety, welfare, and
ornament of their immortal souls. So great is their folly that earthly
toys make them slight heavenly thrones ! So wilful their self deception
that a point of time* hides from them a boundless eternity ! So per-
verted is their moral taste, that they nauseate the word of truth, the
precious food of souls, and greedily run upon the tempter's hook, if it is
but made of solid gold, or gilt over with the specious appearance of
honour, or only baited with the prospect of a favourite diversion. And
while, by mieasy, fretful tempers, they too often impair their bodily
liealth ; by exorbitant affections and pimgent cares they frequently break
their hearts, or pierce themselves through with many sorrows.
Does such a conduct deserve the name of a well-ordered sdf love, or
preposterous self hatred ? O man, sinful man, how totally art thou de-
praved, if tliou art not only thy own most dangerous enemy, but often
thy most cruel tormentor !
TWENTIETH ARGUMENT.
This depravity is productive of the most detestable brood. When it
has suppressed the love of God, perverted the love of our neighbour,
and vitiated self love, it soon gives birth to a variety of execrable tern-
pers, and dire affections, which should have no place but in the breasts
of fiends, no outbreaking but in the chambers of hell.
If you ask their names, I answer, pride, that odious vice, which feeds
on the praises it slily procures, lives by the applause it has meanly
courted, and is equally stabbed by the reproof of a friend, and the sneer
of a foe. The spirit of independence, which cannot bear control, is
galled by the easiest yoke, gnaws the slender cords of just authority, as
if they were the heavy chains of tyrannical power ; nor ever ceases
struggling till they break, and he can say, " Now I am my own master."
Ambition and vanity, which, like Proteus, take a thousand shapes, and
wind a thousand ways, to climb up to the high seat of power, shine on
the tottering stage of lionour, wear the golden badge of fortune, glitter
m the gaudy pomp of dress, and draw by distinguishing appearances the
admiration of a gaping multitude. Sloth, which minerves the soul,
enfeebles the body, and makes the whole man deaf to the calls of duty,
loath to set about his business, (even when want, fear, or shame drives
him to it,) ready to postpone or omit it upon any pretence, and willing
to give up even the interests of society, virtue, and religion, so he may
saunter undisturbed, dose the time away in stupid inactivity, or enjoy
himself in that dastardly indolence which passes in the world for quiet-
ness and good nature. Envy, that looks with an evil eye at the good
* And is it in the flight of tlirec-score years
To push eternity from human thought,
And bury souls immortal in the dust ?
A soul immortal spending all her fires,
AVasting her strength in strenuous idleness ;
Thrown into tumult, raptur'd, or alarni'd.
At aught this scene can threaten or indulge,
Resembles ocean into tempest wrought,
To waft a feather, or to drown a fly. Yovng.
THIRD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF PACT. 289
things our competitors enjoy, takes a secret pleasure in their misfortunes,
under various pretexts exposes their faults, shly tries to add to our
reputation what it detracts from theirs, and stings our heart when they
eclipse us hy their greater success or superior excellences. Covetousness,
which is always dissatisfied with its portion, watches it with tormenting
fears, increases it by every sordid means, and, turning its own executioner,
justly pines for want over the treasure it madly saves for a prodigal heir.
Impatience, which frets at every thing, finds fault with every person,
and madly tears herself under the distressing sense of a present evil, or
the anxious expectation of an absent good. Wrath, which distorts our
faces, racks our breasts, alarms our households, threatens, curses, stamps,
and storms even upon imaginary or trifling provocations. Jealousy, that,
through a fatal skill in diabohcal optics, sees contempt in all the words
of a favourite friend, discovers infidelity in all his actions, lives upon the
wicked suspicions it begets, and turns the sweets of the mildest passion
into wormwood and gall. Idolatrous love, which preys upon the spirits,
consumes the flesh, tears the throbbing heart, and when it is disappointed
frequently forces its wretched slaves to lay violent hands upon themselves.
Hatred of our fellow creatures, which keeps us void oP' tender benevo-
lence, a chief ingredient in the bliss of angels ; and fills us with
some of the most unhappy sensations belonging to accursed spirits.
Malice, which takes an unnatural, helhsh pleasure in teasing beasts, and
hurting men in their persons, properties, or reputation. And the oft-
spring of malice, revenge,* who always thirsts after mischief or blood :
and shares the only deUght of devils, when he can repay a real or fancied
injury seven -fold. ■ Hypocrisy, who borrows the cloak of religion ; bids
her flexible muscles imitate vital piety ; attends at the sacred altars to
make a show of her fictitious devotion ; there raises her affected zeal,
in proportion to the number of the spectators ; calls upon God to get the
praise of man ; and lifts up adulterous eyes and thievish hands to
heaven, to procure herself the good things of earth. And hypocrisy's
sister, narrow-hearted bigotry, who pushes from her civility and good
nature ; stops he rears against argument and entreaties ; calls hugue.
iiots, infidels, papists, or heretics, all who do not directly subscribe to her
absurd or impious creeds ; dogs them with a mahgnant eye ; throws
stones or dirt at them about an empty ceremony, or an indifferent opinion.
And, at last, if she can, sets churches or kingdoms on fire, about a tur-
ban, a surphce, or a cowl. Perfidiousness, who puts on the looks of true
benevolence, speaks the language of-the warmest affection ; with solemn
protestations invites men to depend on her sincerity, while she lays a
deep plot for their sudden destruction ; and with repeated oaths beseeches
Heaven to be witness of her artless innocence, while she moves the centre
* Man hard of heart to man ! Of horrid things
Most horrid ! Mid stupendous, highly strange '.
Yet oft his courtesies arc smoother wrongs ;
Pride brandishes the favours he confers,
And contumelious his humanity :
What then his vengeance ? Hear it not, ye stars !
And thou, pale moon ! turn paler at the sound :
Man is to man the sorest, surest ill. —
Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings but Himself,
That hideous sight, a naked human heart I Young.
Vol. III. 19
290 AN Ari'EAJL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
of hell to accomplish her dire designs. The fatal hour is come : her
stratagem has succeeded ; and she now kisses and betrays, drinks health
and poisons ; ofi'ers a friendly embrace, and gives a deadly stab.
Despair, who scorns to be beholden to mercy, gives a lie to all the
declarations issued from the throne of grace, obstmately tiu^ns his wild
eyes from the great expiatory sacrifice ; and at last, impatient to drink
the cup of trembling, wildly looks for some weapon to destroy him-
self. Distraction, begotten by the shocking mixture of two or more of
these infernal passions, raised to the highest degrees of extravagance :
distraction, that wrings her hands, tears her dishevelled hair, fixes her
ghastly eyes, turns her swimmmg brains, quenches the last spark of
reason ; and, like a fierce tiger, must at last be chained by the hand of
caution, and confuied with iron bars in her dreaiy dwelUng.
And, to close the dismal train, self murder, who always points wretched
mortals to ponds and rivers, or presents them with cords, razors, pistols,
daggers, and poison, and perpetually urges them to the choice of one
of them. " You are guilty, miserable creatures," whispers he : " the
sun of prosperity is for ever set : the deepest night of distress is come
upon you : you are in a hell of wo : the hell prepared for Satan cannot
be worse than that which you feel ; but it may be more tolerable : take
this, and boldly force your passage out of the cursed state in which you
groan." He persuades, and his desperate victims, tired of the company
of their fellow mortals, fly for refuge to that of devils : they shut their
eyes ; and, horrible to say, but how much more horrible to do ! deliber-
ately venture from one hell mto another to seek ease ; or, to speak with
more tmth, leap with all the miseries of a known hell, into all the hor-
rors of one whicii is unlcnown.
And are your hearts, O ye sons of men, the favourite seats of this
infernal crew ? Then shame on the wretch that made the first panegyric
on the dignity of human nature ! He proved my point : he began in
pride and ended in distraction.
Detestable as these vices and tempers are, where is the natural man
that is alw ays free from them ? Where is even the child ten years old
who never felt most of these vipers, upon some occasion or other, shoot-
ing their venom through his lips, darting their baleftil mfluence through
his eyes, or, at least, stirring and hissing in his disturbed breast ? If any
one never felt them he may be pronoiuxced more than mortal : but if
he has, his own experience furnishes him with a sensible demonstration
that he is a fallen spirit, infected with the poison that rages in the devil
himself.
TWENTY-FIKST ARGUMENT.
Bad roots, which vigorously shoot in the spring, will naturally pro-
duce their dangerous fruit in the summer. We may therefore go one
step farther and ask. Where is the man thirty years old, whose depravity
has not broke out in the greatest variety of sinful acts ? Among j)ersons
of that age, who never were esteemed worse than their nciglibours,
shall we find a. forehead that never betrayed daring insolence? A cheek
that never indicated concealed guilt by an involuntary blush, or inmatural
paleness ? A neck that never was stretched out in pride and vain confi-
dence ? An eye that never cast a disdahiful, malignant, or wanton
THIRD.] AN APrE-lT, TO MATTER OF FACT. 291
look ? kn ear that an «vil curiosity never opened to frothy, loose, or
defaming discourse ? A tongue that never was tainted with unedifying,
false, indecent, or uncharitable language ? A palate that never became
the seat of luxurious indulgence ? A throat that never was the channel
of excess ? A stomach that never felt the oppressive load of abused
mercies ? Hands that never plucked or touched the forbidden fruit of
pleasing sin ? Feet that never once moved in the broad downward road
of iniquity] And a bosom that never heaved under the dreadful work-
ings of some exorbitant passion ? Where, in short, is there a, face, ever
so disagreeable, that never was the object of self-worship in a glass ?
And where a body, however deformed, that never was set up as a
favourite idol by the fallen spirit that inhabits it ?
If iniquity thus works by all the powers and breaks out in all the
parts of the human body, we may conclude by woful experience not
only that the plague of sin is begun, but that it rages with universal
fury ; and to use again the evangelical prophet's words, that " from the
sole of the foot even to the head" of the natural man, " there is no"
spiritual " soundness in him ; but wounds, and bruises, and pulrefymg
sores."
TWENTY-SECOND ARGUMENT.
What can be said of each individual may, with the same propriety,
be affirmed of all the different nations of the earth. Let an impartial
judge take four unconverted men or children from the four parts of the
world : let him examine their actions and trace them back to their
spring ; and if he makes some allowance for the accidental difference
of their clunate, constitution, taste, and education, he will soon find
their dispositions as equally " earthly, sensual," and " devilish" as if
they had all been cast in the same mould. Yes, as oak trees are oaks
all the world over, though by particular circumstances some grow taller
and harder, and some more knotted and crooked than others ; so all
unregenerate men resemble one another ; for all are proud, self willed,
impenitent, and " lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God."
Do not sloth, gluttony, drunkenness, and uncleanness ; cheating,
defrauding, stealing, and oppression ; lying, perjury, treachery, and
cruelty ; stalk openly or lurk secretly every where ? Arc not all these
vices predominant among black and white people, among savage and
civilized nations, among Turks and Jews, heathens and Christians?
Whether they live on the banks of the Ganges or the Thames, the
Mississippi or the Seine ? Whether they starve in the snows of Lapland,
or bum in the siinds of Guinea ?
O sin, thou fatal pest, thou soul-destroying plague, would to God thy
fixed abode were 07dy in the Levant ! and that, like the external pesti-
lence, thou wert chiefly confined to the Turkish dominions ! But, alas !
the gross immorality and profaneness, the various crimes and villanies,
the desperate impiety and wild blasphemy under which every kingdom
and city have groaned, and still continue to do night and day, over the
face of the whole earth, are black spots so similar and symptoms so
equally terrible, that we are obliged to confess they must have a common
internal principle ; which can be no other than a bad habit of soul ; a
fallen corrupted nature. Yes, the universality and equality of the eflecls
292 AN AITKAL TO MATTEJR OF FACT. [PART
show to an vinprejudiced mind that the cause is universal, and equally
interwoven with that nature which is common to all nations, and remains
the same in all countries and ages.
FIVE OBJECTIONS.
I. If the self-righteous moralist answers, that " sin and wickedness
are not so universal as this argument supposes :" I reply, that the more
we are acquainted with ourselves, with the history of the dead and
secret transactions of the living ; the more we are convinced that, if all
are not guilty of owiJz^ard enormities, all are deeply tainted with spiritual
wickedness.
Even those excellent persons, who, like Jeremiah, have been in part
" sanctified before they came forth out of the womb," can from sad
experience confess with him, that "the heart is deceitful above all
things ;" and say with David, " My heart showeth me the wickedness
of the ungodly."
Thousands indeed boast of the goodness of their hearts ; they flatter
themselves that to be righteous, it is enough to avoid the gross acts of
intemperance and injustice : with the Pharisees they shut their eyes
against the destructive nature of the love of the world, the thirst of
praise, the fear of men, the love of ease, sloth, sensuality, indevotion,
self righteousness, discontent, impatience, selfishness, carnal security,
unbelief, hardness of heart, and a thousand other spiritual evils. Full
of self ignorance, like Peter, they imagine there is no combustible
matter of wickedness in their breasts, because they are not actually
fired by the spark of a suitable temptation. And when they hear what
their corrupt nature may one day prom})t them to, they cry out with
Hazael, " Am I a dog, that I should do this thing ?" Nevertheless, by
and by they do it, if not outwardly as he did, at least in their vain
thoughts by day, or wicked, lewd imaginations by night. So true is the
wise man's saying, " He that trusteth his own heart is a fool."
II. " If historians give us frequent accounts of the notorious wicked-
ness of mankind," say the advocates for human excellence, "it is
because private virtue is not the subject of history ; and to judge of the
moral rectitude of the world by the corruption of courts, is as absurd as
to estimate the health of a people from an infirmary."
And is private vice any more the subject of history than private
virtue ? If it were, what folios would contain tlie fulsome and black
accounts of all the lies and scandal, the secret grudges and open
quarrels, the filthy talking and malicious jesting, the unkind or unjust
behaviour, the gross or refined intemperance which deluge both town
and country?
Suppose the annals of any one numerous family were published, how
many volumes might be filled with the details of the undue fondness or
forbidden coldness ; the variance, animosity, and strife which break out
between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters,
masters and domestics, upper and lower servants, &c ! W hat ridiculous,
iin})ertinent scenes would be open to public view ! What fretfulness,
dissimulation, envy, jealous}^ tale bearing, deceit ! What concealed
suspicions, aggravated charges, false accusations, imderhand dealings.
THIRD.) AN APPEAl TO MATTER OP FACT. 293
imaginary provocations, glaring partiality, insolent behaviour, loud
passions !
Was even the best moralist to write the memoirs of his own heart,
and give the public a minute account of all his impertinent thoughts and
wild imaginations, how many paragraphs would make him blush !
How many pages, by presenting the astonished reader with a blank or
a blot, would demonstrate the truth of St. Paul's assertion, " They are
all gone out of the way, there is none that doeth good," but spoils his
best works by a mixture of essential evil ! Far then from finding* those
vastly superior numbers, who in safe obscurity are virtuously and
innocently employed, we may every where see the truth of tlie con-
fession which our objectors make in tlie church, " There is no health
in us."
I say every where ; for is cabal confined to the court any more than
lewdness to the army and profaneness to the navy ? Does not the same
spirit of self interest and intrigue, which influences the choice of
ministers of state, preside also at the election of members of parliament,
mayors of corporate towns, burgesses of boroughs, and petty officers in
a country parish ? We may, then, (notwithstanding the unfortunate
comparison on which this objection is founded,) conclude, without
absurdity, that as all men, sooner or later, by pain, sickness, and death,
evidence their natural weakness and mortality, whether they live in
infirmaries, palaces, or cottages ; so all men, sooner or later, by their
thoughts, words, and actions, demonstrate their natural corruptions,
whether they crowd the jail yard, the drawing room, or the obscure
green of a coimtry village.
III. The same objectors will probably reply : " If corruption is uni-
versal, it cannot be said to be equal : for numbers lead a very harmless,
and not a few a very useful life."
To this I answer, that all have naturally " a heart of unbelief,"
forgetful of, and " departing from the living God." In this respect
" there is no difference ; all the world is guilty before God." But
thanks be to the Father of mercies, all do not remain so. Many cherish
the seed of supernatural grace, which we have from the Redeemer ;
they bow to his sceptre, become " new creatures, depart from iniquity,
and are zealous of good works." And the gracious power that renewed
them is at work upon thousands more ; hourly restraining them from
much evil, and daily exciting them to many useful actions.
With respect to the harndesmess, ibr which some unrenewed persons
are remarkable, it cannot spring from a better nature than that of their
fellow mortals ; for the nature of all men, like that of all loolves, is the
same throughout the whole species. It irmst then be owing to the
restraining grace of God, or to a happier constitution, a stricter educa-
tion, a deeper sense of decency, or a greater regard tor their character ;
perhaps only to the fear of consequences and to the want of natural
boldness, or of a suitable temptation and fair opportunity to sin. Nor
are there few who pass for temperate, merely because the diabolical
pride lurking in the heart scorns to stoop so low as to indulge their
beastly appetites : while others have the undeserved reputation of good-
* See the note [markedt] page 281
294 AN APPKAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
natured, because they find more delight in quietly gratifying their
sheepish indolence or brutal desires, than in yielding to the uneasy,
boisterous tempers, which they have in common with devils.
As to the virtues by which some of the unconverted distinguish them-
selves from others, they either spring from God's preventing grace, or
are only vices in disguise. The love of praise, the desire of honour,
and the thirst of gold, excite thousands to laudable designs and useful
actions. Wicked men, set on work by these powerful spinngs, do lying
wonders in the moral world, as the magicians did in the land of Egypt.
They counterfeit Divine grace, and for a time seem even to outdo
believers themselves. Hence it is that we frequently see the indolent
industrious ; the coward brave ; the covetous charitable ; the Pharisee
religious ; the Magdalene modest ; and the dastardly slave of his lusts
a bold assertor of public liberty. But the Searcher of hearts is not
deceived by fair appearances : he judges of their actions according to
the motives whence they spring, and the ends for which they are per-
formed. " You are," says he to all these seemingly virtuous sinners,
" like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly ; but
within are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness."
Were I to describe the saints of the world by a comparison, I would
say that some of them resemble persons who artfully conceal their
ulcers under the most agreeable appearance of cleanliness antl health.
Many that admire their faces and looks, little suspect what a putrid,
vuulent fluid runs out of their secret sores. Others of them whose
hypocrisy is not of so gross a kind, are like persons infected with a
mortal disease, who, though the mass of their blood is tainted, and some
noble part attacked, still walk about, do business, and look as fresh
coloured as if they were the picture of health. Ye sons of Esculapius,
who, without feeling their pulse and carefully weighing every symptom,
pronounce* them very well upon their look alone, do ye not blunder in
physic, just as my objectors do in divinity ?
IV. But still they urge, " that it is wrong to father our sinfulness
upon a pretended natural depravity, when it may be entirely owing to
the force of ill example, the influence of a bad education, or the strong
ferments of youthful blood."
All these, I reply, like rich soil and rank manure, cause original cor-
ruption to shoot the higher, but do not form its pernicious seeds. That
these seeds lurk within the heart, before thiey are forced up by the heat
of temptation, appears indubitable, if we consider, (1.) That all children,
on particular occasions, manifest some early inclination to those sins
which theYeebleness of their bodily organs, and the want of proper fer-
ments in their blood, do not permit them to commit. (2.) That infants
betray envy, ill humour, impatience, selfishness, and obstinacy, even
before they can take particular notice of ill examples, and understand
bad counsels : and, (3.) That though uncleanliness, fornication, and
adultery, on" account of the shame and danger attending them, are com-
mitted with so much secrecy, that the e.vamples of them are seklom, if
ever, given in public ; they are, nevertheless, some of the crimes which
are most universally or eagerly committed.
Beside, if we were not more inclined to vice than virtue, good exam-
ples would be as common, and have as much force as bad ones. There-
THIRD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 295
fore, the generality of bad examples cannot arise but from the general
sinfulness of man ; and to account for this general sinfulness by the gene-
rality of bad examples, is begging the question, and not proving the point.
Add to this, that as weeds, since the curse, grow even in fields sown
with the best wheat ; so vice, since the fall, grows in the midst of the
best examples, and the most excellent education : witness the barbarous
crimes committed by pious Jacob's children, and penitent Adam's
eldest son.
V. " But if Cain sinned," say our objectors, " and all mankind sin
also, it is no more than Adam himself once did by his OAvn free choice,
though he was created as exempt from original depravity as an angel.
What need is there then to suppose that he communicated to his pos-
terity an inbred proneness to sin ?"
To this I reply : It is not one accident or single event, but a continual
repetition of the same event, that proves a proneness. If a man, who
is perfectly in his senses, by some unforeseen accident falls into a fit of
madness, we may account for his misfortune from that accident ; and
no certain judgment can be formed of the bodily habit of his family.
But if all his children, through a hundred generations, are not only sub-
ject to the same mad fits, but also die in consequence of them, in all
sorts of climates, and under all sorts of physicians ; common sense will
not allow us to doubt, that it is now a family disorder, incurable by human
art. The man is Adam, the family mankind, and the madness sin.
Reader, you are desired to make the application.
TWENTY-THIRD ARGUMENT.
" But all are not employed m sin and wickedness, for many go
through a constant round o? innocent diversions ; and these, at least, must
be innocent and hajrpyJ'^ Let us then consider the amusements of man-
kind ; or, rather, without stopping to look at the wise dance of the
Israelites round the golden calf, and the modest, sober, ajid humane
diversions of the heathens, in the festivals of their lewd, drunken, and
bloody gods ; let us only see how far our own pleasures demonstrate the
innocence and happiness of mankind.
How excessively foolish are the plays of children ! How full of mis-
chief and cruelty the sports of boys ! How vain, foppish, and frothy the
joys of young people ! And how much below the dignity of upright,
pure creatures, the snares that persons of different sexes perpetually lay
(or each other ? When they are together, is not this their favourite
aniusement, till they are deservedly caught in the net which they impru-
dently spread ? But see them asunder.
Here a circle of idle women, supping a decoction of Indian herbs, talk
or laugh all together like so many chirpmg birds or chattering monkeys,
and, scandal excepted, every way to as good purpose. And there a club
of graver men blow, by the hour, clouds of stinking smoke out of their
mouth, or wash it down their throat with repeated draughts of intoxicat-
ing Uquors. The strong fumes have already reached their heads; and
while some stagger home, others triumphantly keep the field of excess ;
though one is already stamped with the heaviness of the ox, another
worked up to the fierceness aaid roar of the lion, and the third brought
down to the filthiness of the vomiting dog.
296 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. (PART
Leave theiii at their manly sport to follow those musical sounds, mixed
with a noise of stamping ; and you will find others profusely perspiring
and violently fatiguing themselves, in skipping up and down a room for
a whole night, and ridiculously turning their backs and faces to each
other a hundred different ways. Would not a man of sense prefer run-
ning ten miles upon a useful errand, to this useless manner of losing his
rest, lieating his blood, exhausting his spirits, unfitting himself for the
duties of the following day, and laying the foundation of a putrid fever,
or a consumption, by l)rcathing the midnight air corrupted by clouds of
dust, hy the unwholesome fumes of candles, and by the more pernicious
steam, that issues from the bodies of many persons, who use a strong
exercise in a confined place.
In the next room, indeed, they are more quiet ; but are they more
rationally employed ? Why do they so earnestly rattle those ivory cubes,
and so anxiously study those packs of loose and spotted leaves? Is
happiness graven upon the one, or stamped upon the other ? Answer, ye
-gamesters, who curse your stars as ye go home with an empty purse
and a heart full of rage !
" We hope there is no harm in taking an innocent game at cards,"
reply a ridiculous party of superannuated old ladies ; " gain is not our
aim, we only play to kill time." You are not then so well employed as
the foolish heathen emperor who amused himself in killing troublesome
flies and wearisome time together. The delight of rational creatures,
much more of Christians on the brink of the grave, is to redeem, im-
prove, and solidly enjoy time ; but yours, alas ! consists in the bare,
irreparable loss of that invaluable treasure. O, what account will you
give of the souls you neglect, and the talents you buiy ?
And shall we kill each day? If trifling kill,
Sure vice must butcher : O ! what heaps of slain
Call out for vengeance on us ! Time destroy'd
In suicide, whore more than blood is spilt. Young
And are public diversions better evidences of our mnocence and hap-
piness ? Let reason decide. In cities, some are lavish of the gold which
should be laid by for the payment of their debts, or the relief of the
poor, to buy an opportunity of acting under a mask an impertinent or
immodest part without a blush ; and others are guilty of the same injus-
tice or prodigality, that they may be entitled to the honour of waiting
upon a company of idle buffoons, and seeing them act what would make
a modest woman blush, or hearing them speak what persons of true
piety, or pure morals, would gladly pay them never to utter.
Are country amusements more rational and innocent ? What shall
we say of those Christian, or rather heathenish, festivals, called wakes,
annually kept in honour of the saints to whom the parish church was
■formerly dedicated ? Are they not celebrated with the idleness, vanity,
and debauchery of the Floralia ; with the noise, riots, and frantic miiih
of the bacchanals ; rather than with the decent solemnity, pious cheer-
fulness, and strict temperance, which characterize the religion of the
holy Jesus?
The Assizes are held, the judge passes an awful sentence of trans-
^portation or death upon guilty wretches who stand pale and trembling
before his tribunal ; and twenty couple of gay gentlemen and ladies, as
THIRD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 297
if they rejoicea in tlie infamy and destruction of their fellow mortals,
hire, on the occasion, a band of musicians, and dance all night, perhaps
in tlic very apartment where the distracted victims of justice, a few
hours before, wnmg their hands, and rattled their irons.
The races are advertised ; all the country is in motion ; neither busi-
ness, rain, nor storm can prevent thousands from running for miles, and
sometimes through the worst of roads, to feast their eyes upon the dan-
ger of their fellow creatures, and divert themselves with the misery of
the most useful animals. Daring mortals hazard their necks upon
swift coursers which are tortured by the severest lashes of the whip,
and incessant pricks or tearing gashes of the spur, that they may exert
their utmost force, strain every nerve, and make continued efforts even
beyond the power of nature : whence (to say nothing of fatal accidents,
which yet, alas ! too frequently happen) they sometimes pant away their
wretched lives in a bath of sweat and blood ; and all this, that they may
afford a barbarous pleasure to their idle, wanton, and barbarous beholders.
In one place the inhuman sport is afforded by an unhappy bird, fixed
at some distance, that the sons of cruelty may long exercise their mer-
ciless skill in its lingering and painful destruction ; or by two of them
trained up and high fed for the battle. The hour fixed for the obstinate
engagement is come ; and as if it was not enough that they should pick
each other's eyes out with the strong bills that nature has given them ;
human malice, or rather diabolical cruelty, comes to the assistance of
their native fierceness. Silver spurs or steel talons, sharper than those
of the eagle, are barbarously fastened to their feet ; thus armed, they are
excited to leap at each other, and, in a hundred repeated onsets, to tear
their feathers and flesh, as if they were contending vultures ; and if at
last one blinded, covered with blood and wounds, and unable to stand
any longer the metallic claws of his antagonist, enters into the agonies
of death ; the numerous ring of stamping, clapping, shouting, eagerly
betting, or horridly cursing spectators, is as highly dehghted, as if the
tortured, dying creature was the common enemy of' mankind.
In another place a multitude of spectators is delightfully entertained
by two brawny men, who immercifully knock one another down, as if
they were oxen appointed for the slaughter, and continue the savage
play, till one, with his flesh bruised and his bones shattered, bleeding, and
gasping as in the pangs of death, yields to his antagonist, and thus puts
an end to the shockmg sport.
But it is, perhaps, a different spectacle that recomnwnds itself to the
bloody taste of our baptized heathens. Fierce dogs are excited by
fiercer men, with fury to fasten upon the nose, or tear out the eyes of a
poor confined animal, which pierces the sky with his painful and lament-
able bellowings, enough to force compassion from the heart of barba-
rians, not totally lost to all sense o'f humanity : while, in the meantime,
the surrounding savage mob rends the very heavens with the most hor-
rid imprecations, and repeated shouts of applauding joy ; sporting them-
selves with that very misery which human nature (were it not deplorably
corrupted) would teach them to alleviate.*
*"I ever thought," says Judge Hale, in his Contemplations, "tliat there is a
certain degree of justice due from man to the creatures, as from man to man ;
and that an excessive use of the creature's labour is an injustice for which he
298 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
These are thy favourite amusements, O England, thou centre of the
civihzed world, where reformed Christianity, deep-thinking wisdom, and
polite learning, with all its refinements, have fixed their abode ! But, in
the name of common sense, how can we clear them from the imputation
of absurdity, folly, and madness? And by what means can they be
reconciled, I will not say to the religion of the meek Jesus, but to the
philosophy of a Plato, or calm reason of any thinking man ? How per-
verted must be the taste, how irrational and cruel the diversions of
barbarians, in other parts of the globe ! And how applicable to all the
wise man's observation, " Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child,
and madness in the breasts of the sons of men !"
TWENTY-FOURTH ARGXJMENT.
The total corruption of our nature appears, not only in the inclination
of mankind to pursue iiTational and cruel amusements, but in their
general propensity to commit the most unprofitable, ridiculous, inhmnan,
impious, and diabolical sins.
1st. The most unprojitable : for instance, that of sporting, in profane
oaths and curses, with the tremendous name of the Supreme Being.
" Because of swearing the land mourneth," said a prophet, thousands of
years ago ; and what land even in Christendom, yea, what parish in this
I'elbrmed island mourns not, or ought not to moum, for the same pro-
voking crime ? — a crime which is the hellish offspring of practical Athe-
ism and heathenish insolence — a crime that brings neither profit, honour,
nor pleasure, to the profane wretch who commits it — a ciime for which
he may be put to open shame, forced to appear before a magistrate, and
sent for ten days to the house of correction, unless he pays an ignomi-
mous fine ; and, what is more awful still, a crime which, if persisted in,
will one day cause him to gnaw his impious tongue in the severest tor-
ments. Surely man, who drinks this insipid and yet destructive iniquity
like water, must have his moral taste strangely vitiated, not to say diabo-
lically perverted.
2dly. The most ridiculous sins. In what country, town, or village,
do not women betray their silly vanity 1 Is it not the same foolish dis-
position of heart which makes them bore their ears in Europe, and slit
their noses in America, that they may unnaturally graft in their flesh
pieces of glass, shining pebbles, glittering gold, or trinkets of meaner
metal ? And when female Hottentots fancy they add to the importance
of their filthy person, by some yards of the bloody intestines of a beast
twisted round their arms or necks, do they not evidence the very spirit
must account. I have, therefore, always esteemed it as a part of my duty,
and it has been always my practice, to be merciful to my beasts ; and upon
the same account I have declined any cruelty to any of thy creatures, and, as
much as I might, prevented it in others as a tyranny. I iiave abhorred those
sports that consist in the torturing of thy creatures : and if any noxious creature
must be destroyed, or creatures for food nmst be taken, it has been my practice
to do it in a mani\er that may be with the least torture or cruelty to the creature ;
ever remembering, that though God has given us a dominion over his creatures,
yet it is under a law of justice, prudence, and moderation ; otherwise we should
become tyrants and not lords over God's creatures ; and, therefore, those things
of this nature which others have practised as recreations, I have avoided as
sins."
THIRD.] AN APPEAX TO MATTER OF FACT, 299
of the ladies in our hemisphere, who too often measure their dignity by
the yards of coloured silk bands with which they crown themselves, and
turn the grave matron into a pitiful May queen ?
3dly. The most inhuman sins. " A hundred thousand mad animals,
whose heads are covered with hats," says Voltaire, " advance to kill or
be lulled by the like number of their fellow mortals, covered with tur-
bans. By this strange procedure they want, at best, to decide whether
a tract of land, to which none of them all lays any claim, shall belong
to a certain man whom they call Sultan, or to another whom they name
Cesar, neither of whom ever saw, or will see, the spot so furiously con-
tended for. And very few of those creatures, who thus mutually butcher
one another, ever beheld the animal for whom they cut each other's
throats ! From time immemorial this has been the way of mankind
almost all over the earth. What an excess of madness is this ! And
how deservedly might a superior being crush to atoms this earthly ball,
the bloody nest of such ridiculous murderers !"
Tlie same author makes elsewhere the following reflections on the
same melancholy subject : — " Famine, pestilence, and war, are the three
most famous ingredients of this lower world. The two first come from
God ; but the last, in which all three concur, comes from the imagina-
tion of princes or ministers. A king fancies that he has a right to a
distant province. He raises a multitude of men, who have nothing to
do, and nothing to lose ; gives them a red coat and a laced hat, and
makes them wheel to the right, wheel to the left, and march to glory.
Five or six of these belligerent powers sometimes engage together, three
against three, or two against four. But whatever part they take, they
all agree in one point, which is, to do their neighbour all possible mis-
chief. The most astonishing thing belonging to tlieir infernal undertaking
is, that every ringleader of those murderers gets his colours consecrated,
and solemnly blessed in the name of God, before he marches up to the
destruction of his fellow creatures. If a chief warrior has had the good
fortune of getting only two or three thousand men slaughtered, he does
not think it worth his while to thank God for it. But if ten thousand
have been destroyed by fire and sword, and if, to complete this good
fortune, some capital city has been totally overthrown ; a day of public
thanksgiving is appointed on the joyful occasion. Is not that a fine art
which carries such desolation through tlie earth ; and, one year with
another, destroys forty thousand men out of a hundred thousand?"
4thly. The most impioits sins : for instance, that of idolatry. " Before
the coming of Christ," says a late divine, " all the polite and barbarous
nations among the heathens plunged into it with equal blindness. And
the Jews were so strongly wedded to it, that God's miraculous interpo-
sition, both by dreadftd judgments and astonishing mercies, could not,
for eight hundred years, restrain them from committing it in the grossest
manner."
Nor need we look at either heathens or Jews to see the proneness of
mankind to that detestable crime : Christians alone can prove the charge.
"^Po this day the greatest part of them pray to dead men and dead women ;
bow to images of stone, and crosses of wood ; and make, adore, and
swallow down, the wafer god. And those who pity (hem for this ridi-
culous idolatry, till converting grace interposes, daily " set up their idols
300 AN APPEAI- TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
in their hearts," and, without going to the plain of Dura, sacrifice all to
the king's " golden image."
And 5thly. The most diabolical sin ; persecution, that favourite off-
spring of Satan, transformed into an angel of light. Persecution, that
bloody, hypocritical monster, which carries a Bible, a liturgy, and a
bundle of canons in one hand; with fire fagots, and all the weapons
invented by cruelty in the other ; and with sanctified looks, distresses,
racks, or murders men, either because they love God, or because they
cannot all think alike.
Time would fliil to tell of those who, on religious accounts, have been
stoned and sawn asunder by the Jews, cast to the lions, and burned by
the heathens, strangled and impaled by the Mohammedans, and butch-
ered all manner of ways by the Christians.
Yes, we must confess it, Christian Rome has glutted herself with the
blood of martyrs, which heathenish Rome had but comparatively tasted.
And when Protestants fled from her bloody pale, they brought along with
them too much of her bloody spirit. Prove the sad asseilion, poor Ser-
vetus ! When a Romish inquisition had forced thee to fly to Geneva,
what reception didst thou meet with in that reformed city ? Alas ! the
Papists had burned thee in effigy ; the Protestants burned thee in reality,
and Moloch triumphed to see the two opposite parties agree in offering
him the human sacrifice.
So universally restless is the spirit of persecution which inspires the
unrenewed part of mankind, that when people of the same religion have
no outward opposer to tear, they bark at, bite, and devour one another.
Is it not the same bitter zeal that made the Pharisees and Sadducees
among the Jews, and now makes the sects of Ali and Omar among the
Mohammedans, those of the Jansenists and Molinists among the Papists,
and those of the Calvinists and Arminians among the Protestants, oppose
each other with such acrimony and virulence ?
But let us look around us at home. When persecuting Popery had
almost expired in the fires in which it burned our first Churchmen, how
soon did those who survived them commence persecutors of the Presby-
terians? When these, forced to fly to New-England for rest, got there
the stafi' of power in their hand, did they not, in their turn, Tall upon
and even hang the Quakers? And now that an act of toleration binds
the monster, and the lash of pens, consecrated to the defence of our civil
and religious liberties, makes him either afraid or ashamed of roaring
aloud far his prey ; does he not show, by his supercihous looks, mali-
cious sneers, and settled contempt of vital piety, what he would do should
an opportunity offer? And does he not still, under artful pretences, go
to the utmost length of his chain, to wound the reputation of those whom
he cannot devour, and infhct at least academic death* upon tliose whose
persons are happily secured from his rage ?
O ye unconverted among mankind, if all these abominations every
where break out upon you, what cages of unclean birds, what nests
swarming with cruel vipers, are your " deceitful and desperately wicked
hearts !"
* See Pietas Oxoniensis.
THIRD.] AK AITE.VL TO MATTER OF FACT. 301
TWENTY-FIFTH ARGUMENT.
How dreadfully I'allen is man, if he has not only a propensity to commit
the alwve-mentioned sins, but to transgress the Divine commands with a
variety of shocking aggravations! Yes, mankind are prone to sin : —
I. Immediaidy, by a kind of evil instinct : as children, who peevishly
sti'ike the very breast they suck, and betray the rage of their little hearts
by sobbing and swelUng, sometimes till, by forcing their bowels out of
their place, they bring a rupture upon themselves ; and frequently till
they are black in the faces, and almost suffocated. II. Deliberately, as
those who, having life and death clearly set before them, wilfully and
obstinately choose the way that leads to certain dcstniction. III. Re-
peatedly : witness liars, who, because their crime costs them but a breath,
frequently commit it at every breath. IV. ConlinuaUy, as rakes, who
would make their whole life one uninterrupted scene of debauchery, if
their exhausted strength, or purse, did not force them to intermit their
lewd practices ; though not without a promise to renew them again at
the first convenient opportunity. V. Treacherously, as those Christians
who forget Divine mercies and their own repeated resolutions, break
through the solemn vows and promises made in their sacraments, and,
sinning with a high hand against their profession, perfidiously fly in the
face of their conscience, the Church, and their Saviour. VI. Daringly,
as those who steal mider the gallows, openly insult their parents or their
king, laugh at all laws, human and Divme, and put to defiance all that
arc invested with power to see them executed. VII. Triumphantly, as
the vast nvmiber of those who glory in their shame, sound aloud the
trumpet of their own wickedness, and boast of their horrid, repeated
debaucheries, as admirable and praiseworthy deeds. VIII. Progressively ,
till they have filled up the measure of their miquities, as individuals :
witness Judas, who, from covetousness proceeded to hypocrisy, theft,
treason, despair, and self murder : or, as a nation, witness the Jews, who,
after despising and killing their prophets, rejected the Son of God ;
affirmed he was mad ; stigmatized him with the name of deceiver ; said
he was Beelzebub himself; oflei'ed him all manner of indignities ; bought
his blood ; prayed it might be on them and their children ; rested not
till they had put the Prince of Life to the most ignominious deatli ; and,
horrible to say ! made sport with the groans wliich rent the rocks around
them, and threw the earth into convulsions under their feet. IX. Un-
■naiurally : (1.) By astonishing barbarities: as the women who murder
their own children ; the Greeks and Romans, who exposed them to be
the living prey of wild beasts : the savages, who knock their aged parents
on the head ; the cannibals, who roast and eat their prisoners of war ;
and some revengeful people, who, to taste all the sweetness of their devil-
ish passion, have murdered their enemy, and eaten up his liver and heart.
(2.) By the most diabolical superstitions : as the IsraeUtes, who, when
they had " learned the works of the heathens, sacrificed their sons and
their daughters to devils ; and, by the horrible practices of witchcraft,
endeavoured to raise and deal with infernal spirits. And (3,) by the
most preposterous gralijicalions of sense : witness the incests'" and rapes
* The reason which engaged the publisher of these sheets to preach to some
of the colliers in his neighbourhood, was the horrid length they went in immo-
302 AN APl'KAL TO MATTEK OF lACT. [PART
committed in this land ; the infamous fires, which drew fire and brim-
stone down from heaven upon accursed cities ; and the horrid lusts of
the Canaanites, thovigh, alas ! not confined to Canaan, which gave birth
to the laws recorded Lev. xviii, 7, 23, and xx, 16 f laws that are at
once tlie disgrace of mankind, and the proof of my assertion. X. "What
is most astonishing of all, by apostasy : as those who, having " begun iu
the Spirit," and "tasted" the bitterness of repentance, "the good word
of God, and the powers of the world to come, make shipwreck of the
faith, deny the Lord that bought them, account the blood of the covenant
wherewith they wei'e sanctified an unholy thing ;" and so scandalously
" end in the flesh," that they are justly compared to " trees withered,
plucked up by the roots, twice dead," and to " raging waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame, to whom is reserved the blackness ol"
darkness for ever."
Good God ! what line can fathom an abyss of corruption, the over-
flowings of which are more or less attended with these multiplied and
shocking aggravations ?
TWENTY-SIXTH ARGUMENT.
If the force of a torrent may be known by the height and number of
the banks which it overflows, the strength of this corruption will be
rightly estimated from tlie high and numerous dikes raised to stem it,
which nevertheless it continually breaks through.
Ignorance and debauchery, hijustice and impiety, in all their shapes,
still overspread the whole earth ; notwithstanding innumerable means
used, in all ages, to suppress and prevent them.
The almost total extirpation of mankind by the deluge, the fiery
showers that consumed Sodom, the ten Egyptian plagues, the entire
excision of whole nations who -were once famous for their wickedness,
the captivities of the Jews, the destruction of thousands of cities and
kingdoms, and millions of more private judgments, never fully stopped
immorality hi any one country.
The strikuig miracles wrought by prophets, the alarming sermons
preached by divines, the infinite number of good books published in
almost all languages, and the founding of myriads of churches, religious
houses, schools, colleges, and universities, have not yet caused impiety
to hide its brazen face any where. The making of all sorts of excel-
lent laws, the appointing of magistrates and judges to put them in force,
the forming of associations for the reformation of manners, the filUng of
thousands of prisons, and erecting of millions of racks and gallows, have
not yet suppressed one vice.
And what is most amazing of all, the life, miracles, sufferings, death,
and heavenly doctrine of the Son of God ; the labours, writings, and
mart) rdom of his disciples ; the example and entreaties of millions that
rality. One of them, whose father was hanged, upon returning himself from
transportation, in cool blood attempted to ravish his own daughter, in the pre-
sence of his own wife, and was just prevented from completing his crime, by the
utmost exertion of the united strength of the mother and the child. When brutish
ignorance and heathenish wickedness break out into such unnatural enormities,
who would not break through the hedge of canonical regularity ?
* In the last century an Irish bishop was clearly convicted of the crime for-
bidden in those laws, and suflered death for it.
THIRU.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 303
have lived and died in the faith ; the inexpressible horrors and frightful
warnings of thousands of wicked men, who have testified in their last
moments that they had worked out their diunnation, and were just going
to their own place ; the blood of myriads of martyrs, the strivings of the
Holj- Spirit, the dreadful curses of the law, and the glorious promises of
the Gospel. All these means together have not extirpated immorality
and profaneness out of one single town or village in all the world ; no,
nor out of one single family for any length of time. And this will pro-
bably continue to be the desperate case of mankind, till the Lord lays
to his powerful hand ; seconds these means by the continued strokes of
the sword of his Spirit ; " pleads by fire and sword with all flesh ;" and,
according to his promise, causes " righteousness to cover the earth as
the water covers the sea."
Is not this a demonstration foiuided on matter of fact, that human cor-
ruption is not only deep as the ocean, but impetuous as an overflow,
ing river, which breaks down all its banks, and leaves marks of devas-
tation in every place ? This will still appear in a clearer Ught, if we
consider the strong opposition which our natural depravity makes to
Divine grace in the unconverted.
TAVENTY-SEVENTH ARGUMENT.
When the Lord, by the rod of affliction, " the sword of the Spirit,"
and the power of his grace, attacks the hard heart of a sinner, how
obstinately does he resist the sharp, though gracious operation ! To
make an honoiu'able and vigorous defence, he puts on the shining robes
of his formaUty ; he stands firm in the boasted armour of his moral
powers ; he " daubs with untempered mortar" the ruinous " waif of his
conduct ; with self-righteous resolutions and Pharisaic professions of
virtue, he builds, as he thinks, an impregnable tower ; he musters and
draws up in battle array his poor works, artfully puttuig in the front
those that make the finest appearance, and carefully conceahng the
vices which he can neither disguise, nor dress up in the regimentals of
virtue.
In the meantime he prepares "the carnal weapons of" his " warfare,"
and raises the batter)' of a multitude of objections to silence the truth
that begins to gall him. He afhrins, " The preachers of it are deceivers
and miidtnen,'' till he sees the Jews and heathens fixed, even upon Christ
and St. Paul, the very same opprobrious names : he calls it " a new
doctrine," till he is obhged to acknowledge that it is as old as the
reformers, the apostles, and the prophets. He says, " It is fancy, delu-
sion, enthusiasm," till the blessed efl'ects of it, on true bcUevers, constrain
him to drop the trite and slanderous assertion. He declares that it " drives
people out of their senses, or makes them melancholy," till lie is com-
pelled to confess that " the fear of the Lord is the begiiuiing of wisdom,"
and that none are so happy and joyful as those who truly love, and zeal-
ously serve God : he urges, that " it destroys good works," till a sight of the
readiness of Ixslievers, and of his own backwardness to perform fhem,
makes him ashamed of the groundless accusation. He will tell you
twenty times over, " Tliere is no need of so much ado," till he discovers
the folly of being careless on the brink of eternal ruin, and observes, that
the nearneas of temporal danger puts him upon the utmost exertion of
304 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
his powers : perhaps to get himself a name among his profane com
panions, he lampoons the Scriptures, or " casts out firebrands and arrows"
against the despised disciples of Jesus : " They are all poor and illiterate,"
says he, " fools or knaves, cheats and hypocrites," &c, &c, till the
word of God stops his mouth, and he sees himself the greatest hypty>,rite
with whom he is acquainted.
When by such heavy charges he has long kept off the truth firom
his heart, and the servants of God from his company, this kind of ammtu
nition begins to fail ; and he barricades himself with the fear of being
undone in his circumstances, till experience convinces him that " no
good thing shall God withhold from them that live a godly Ufe," and that
" all things shall be added to them who seek first the kingdom of God."
He then hides himself in the crowd of the ungodly, and says, "If he
perishes, many will share the same fate," till he sees the glaring absurdity
of going to hell for the sake of company. He shelters at last under the
protection of the rich, the great, the learned despisers of Christ and the
cross, till the mines of their wickedness, springing on all sides around
him, make him fly " to the sanctuary of the Lord ;" and there he sees
the ways, and " understands the ends of these men."
. When all his batteries are silenced, and a breach is made in his con-
science, he looks out for some secret way to leave Sodom, without being
taken notice of and derided by those who fight under Satan's banner ;
and the fear of being taken for one of them that " fly from the wrath to
come," and openly tak^; the part of a holy God against a sinful world,
" pierces him through with many sorrows."
Are the outworks taken ? has he been forced to part with his gross
immoralities ? he has generally recourse to a variety of stratagems :
sometimes he publicly dismisses Satan's garrison, " fleshly lusts which
war against the" godly, and keep under the ungodly " soul ;" but it is
only to let them in again secretly, either one by one, or with forces .'icven
times greater, "so that his last state is worse than the first." At other
times he hoisls up the white flag of truth, apparently yields to convic-
tion, favours the ministers of the Gospel, adinits the language of Canaan,
and warmly contends for evangelical doctrines ; but, alas ! the place has
not surrendered, his heart is not given up to God ; spiritual wickedness,
under fair shows of zeal, still keeps possession for " the god of this
world ;" and tlie shrewd hypocrite artfuly imitates the behaviour of a
true Israelite, just as " Satan transforms himself into an angel of hght."
Is he at last deeply convinced that the only means of escaping
destruction, and capitulating to advantage, is to deliver up the traitor,
sin 1 Yet what a long parley does he hold about it ! What a multitude
of plausible reasons does he advance to put it off from day to day !
" He is yet young : the Lord is merciful : all have their foibles : we are
here in an imperfect state : it is a little sin : it may be consistent with
loyalty to God : it hurts nobody but himself: many pious men were once
guilty of it : by and by he will repent as they did," &c, «fec. When
louder summons and increasing fears compel him to renoimce " the lusts
of the flesh," how strongly does he plead for those of the mind ! And
after he has given up his bosom sin with his lips, how treacherously
does he hide it in the inmost recesses of his heart !
Never did a besieged town dispute the ground with such obstinacy,
THIRD.] AN APPEAL TO MATTKK Or FACT. 305
and hold it out by such a variety of stratagems, as corrupt man stands
it out against the repeated attacks of truth and grace. If he yields at
all, it is seldom before he is brought to the greatest extremity. He " feeds
on the dust of tbo earth ;" he tries to " till his" soul " with the husks"
of vanity ; and fares hard on sounds, names, forms, opinions, withered
experience, dry notions of faith, and empty professions of hope, and
fawning shows of love, till " the famine arises," and the intolerable want
of substantial bread forces him to surrender at discretion, and without
reseiTC.
Some stand it out thus, against the God of their salvation, ten or
twenty years ; and others never yield, till the terrors of death storm
their affrighted souls, their last sickness batters down their tortured
bodies, and " the poison of the arrows of the Almighty drinks up their"
wasted " spirits." Wjiat a strong proof is this of the inveteracy and
obstinacy of our corruption !
TWENTY-EIGHTH ARGUMENT.
But a still stronger may be drawn from the amazing struggles of
God'p children with their depravity, even after they have, through grace,
po'i^erfully subdued and gloriously triumphed over it. Their Redeemer
Aimself " is the Captain of their salvation :" they are embarked with
him, and bound for heaven ; they look at the compass of God's word ;
they hold the rudder of sincerity ; they crowd all the sails of their good
resolutions, and pious afiections, to catch the gales of Divine assistance ;
they "exhort one another daily" to ply the" oars of faith and prayer
with watchful industry ; tears of deep repentance and fei-vent desire often
bedew their faces in the pious toil : they would rather die than draw
back to perdition ; but, alas ! the stream of corruption is so impetuous
that it often prevents their making any sensible progress in their spiritual
voyage ; and if in an unguarded hour they drop the oar, and f^int in
"the work of faith, the patience of hope," or "the labour of love," they
are presently carried down into the dead sea of religious formality, or the
whirlpools of scandalous wickedness. Witness the lukewarmness of the
Laodiceans, the adultery of David, the perjury of Peter, the final apos-
tasy of Judas, and the shameful flight of all the disciples.
TWENTY-NINTH ARGUMENT.
When evidences of the most opposite interest agree in their deposition
to a matter of fact, its truth is greatly corroborated. To the last argu-
ment, taken from some sad experiences of God's people, I shall tliere-
fore add one, drawn from the religious rites of Paganism, the confession
of ancient heathens, and the testimony of modern Deists.
When the heathens made their temples stream with the blood of
slaughtered hecatombs, did they not explictly deprecate the wrath of
Heaven and impending destruction ? And was it not a sense of their
guilt and danger ; and a hope that the punishment they deserved might
be transferred to their bleeding victims, which gave birth to their nume-
rous expiatory and propitiatory sacrifices ? If this must be granted, it
is plain those sacrifices were so many proofs that the considerate hea-
thens were not utter strangers to their corruption and danger.
Vol. hi. 20
306 AV APPEAl, TO MATTER OF i-ACT. [PART
But let them speak their own sentunents. Not to mention their alle-
gorical fables of Prometheus, who brought a curse upon earth by steal-
ing fire out of heaven ; and of Pandora, whose fatal curiosity let all
sorts of woes and diseases loose upon mankind ; does not Ovid in his
Metamorphoses give a striking account of the fall, and its dreadful con-
sequences ? Read his description of the golden age, and you see Adam
in paradise ; proceed to tlie iron age, and you behold the horrid picture
of our consummate wickedness.
If the ancients had no idea of that native propensity to evil, which
we call original depravity, what did Plato mean by our " natural wicked-
ness.'** And Pythagoras, by " the fatal companion, the noxious strife
that lurks within us, and was born along with us ?"f Did not Solon take
for his motto the well-known saying, which, though so much neglected
now, was formerly written in golden capitals over the door of Apollo's
temple at Delphos. " Know thyself?":}: Are we not informed by heathen
historians, that Socrates, the prince of the Greek sages, acknowledged
he was naturally prone to the grossest vices ? Does not Seneca, the
best of the Roman philosophers, observe, " We are bom in sutti a con-
dition that we are not subject to fewer disorders of the mind than <vf the
body ?"§ Yea, that " all vices are in all men, though they do not brbtik
out in every one ;"|| and that " to confess them is the begiiming of out
cure ?"1I And had not Cicero lamented before Seneca, that " men are
brought into Ufe by nature as a stepmother, with a naked, frail, and infirm
body ; and a soul prone to divers lusts ?"
Even some of the sprightliest poets bear their testimony to the mourn-
ful truth I contend for. Propertius could say, " Every body has a vice
to which he is inclined by nature."** Horace declared that " no man is
born free from vices," and that " he is the best man who is oppressed
with the least :"ff that " mankind rush into wickedness, and always de-
sire what is forbidden :":]::{: that " youth hath the softness of wax to receive
vicious impressions, and the hardness of a rock to resist virtuous admo-
nitions :"§§ in a word, that " we are mad enough to attack heaven itself,
and" that " our repeated crimes do not suffer the God of heaven to lay
by his wrathful thunderbolts. "j|||
* Kaxia ev (jwaei. Hence that excellent definition of true religion, eepairica
4'"X''J' ^^^ cure of a diseased soul.
t Avypr] yap avvona6oi fpcj 0\aitTovaa X«X»)0ev,
2i)//0uTOf. AuR. Carm.
t TviaBi atavrov.
§ Hac conditione nati sumus ; animalia obnoxia non paucioribos aninii quam
corporis morbis.
II Omnia in omnibus vitia sunt, sed non omnia in singulis extant.
IT Vitia sua confiteri sanitatis principium est.
** Unicuique dedit vitium natura create,
ft Nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur, optimus ille est
Qui minimis urgetur.
It Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas ;
Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque ncgata.
^§ Cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus asper.
III! Cajlum ipsum petimus stultitia; neque
Per nostrum patimur scelus
Irocunda Jovem ponere fuhnina.
THIRD.] AX APPEAL TO SIATTER OF FACT. 307
And Juvenal, as if he had understood what St. Paul says of the " car-
nal mind," affirms that "nature unchangeably fixed" tends, yea, "runs
back to wickedness,"* as bodies to their centre.
Thus the very depositions of the heathens, in their lucid intervals, as
well as their sacrifices, prove the depravity and danger of mankind.
And so does likewise the testimony of some of our modern Deistical
philosophers.
The ingenious author of a book called " Philosophical Inquiries con-
cerning the Americans," informs us it is a custom among some Indians,
that as soon as the wife is delivered of a child the husband must take to
his bed, where he is waited on by the poor woman who should have
been brought there ; and that to this day the same ridiculous custom
prevails in some parts of France. ■=' From tliis and other instances,"
says our inquirer, " we may collect that, however men may differ in other
points, there is a most striking conformity among them in absurdity."
The same philosopher, who is by no means tainted with what some
persons are pleased to call enthusiasm, confirms the doctrine of our
natural depravity by the following anecdote, and the ironical observation
>vitb which it is closed : — The Esquimaux, (the wildest and most sottish
people in all America,) call themselves men, and all other nations bar-
barians. " Human vanity, we see, thrives equally well in all climates ;
in Labrador as in Asia. Beneficent nature has dealt out as much of
this comfortable quahty to a Greenlander as to the most consummate
French petU-maltre."
The following testimony is so much the more striking, as it comes
from one of the greatest poets, philosophers, and Deists, of this present
free-thinking age : — " Who can, without horror, consider the whole earth
as the empire of destruction ? It abounds in wonders, it abounds also in
victims ; it is a vast field of carnage and contagion. Every species is,
without pity, pursued and torn to pieces, through the earth, and air, and
water. In man there is more wretchedness than in all other animals
put together: he smarts continually imder two scourges which other
animals never feel ; anxiety and listlessness m appetence, which makes
him weary of himself. He loves hfe, and yet he knows that he must
die. If he enjoys some transient good, for which he is thankful to
Heaven, he suffers various evils, and is at last devoured by worms. This
knowledge is his fatal prerogative : other animals have it not. He feels
it every moment rankling and corroding in his breast. Yet he spends
the transient moment of his existence in difflising the misery- that he
suffers ; in cutting the throats of his fellow creatures for pay ; in cheat-
ing and being cheated, in robbing and bemg robbed, in serving that he
may command, and in repenting of all that he does. The bulk of man-
kind are nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and
unfortunate, and the globe contains rather carcasses than men. I
tremble upon a review of this dreadfiil picture, to find that it implies a
complaint against Providence, and I wish that I had never been born."
(Voltaire's Gospel of the Day."\)
* Ad mores natura recurrit
Damnatos, fixa et mutari nescia.
t Wild error is often the guide, and glaring contradiction the badge, both of
those who reject revelation, like Voltaire, and of those who indirectly set aside
308 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. (PART
THIRTIETH ARGUMENT.
And yet, O strange infatuation ! Vain man will he wise, and wicked
man pretends to be righteous ! Far from repenting in the dust, he pleads
his innocence, and claims the rewards of imaginary merit ! Incredible
as the assertion is, a thousand witn&sses are ready to confirm it.
Come forth, ye natural sons of virtue, who with scornful boasts attack
the doctrine of man's depravity. To drown the whispers of reason and
experience, sound each your own trumpet : thank God " you are not as
other men :" inform us you " have a good heart" and " a clear con-
science :" assure us you " do your duty, your endeavours, your best
endeavours," to please the Author of your lives : vow you never " were
guilty of any crime, never did any harm :" and tell us you hope to mount
to heaven on the strong pinions of your " good works and pious reso-
lutions."
When you have thus acted the Pharisee's pait before your fellow
creatures, go to your Creator and assume the character of the pubUcan.
Confess with your lips you are " miserable simiers," who " have done
what" you " ought not to have done, and left undone what" you " ought
to have done :" protest " there is no health m" you : complain " th?vt
the remembrance of your sins is grievous unto you, and the burden of
them intolerable :" but remember, O ye self righteous formalists, that, by
this glaring inconsistency, you give the strongest proof of your unright-
eousness. You are, nevertheless, modest, when compared with your
brethren of the Romish Church.
These, far from thinking themselves " unprofitable servants," fancy
one half of it, like the Pharisees and Antinomians around us. See a striking
proof of it. This very author in another book, (O, see what antichristian morality
comes to !) represents the horrible sin of Sodom, as an " excusable mistake of na-
ture," and assures us that, "at the worst of times, there is at most upon earth
only one man in a thousand that can bo called wicked." Now for the proof I
" Hardly do we see one of those enormous crimes, that shock human nature,
committed in ten years at Rome, Paris, or London, those cities where the thirst
of gain, which is the parent of all crimes, is carried to the highest pitch. If men
were essentially wicked, we should find, every morning, husbands murdered by
their wives, &c, as we do hens killed by foxes." According to this apostle of
the Deistical world, it seems that the most intense thirst of gold is no degree of
wickedness : that a woman, to be very good, needs only not cut her husband's
throat while he is asleep ; and that it even little matters whether she omit the dire
murder out of regard to his hfe or her own. What moral philosophy is here I
Why, if the sin of Sodom is a peccadillo, a frolicsome mistake ; and nothing is
wickedness but a treacherous cutting of a husband's or a parent's throat ; I ex-
tend my charity four times beyond thee, O Voltaire ! and do maintain that there
is not one wicked man in five thousand.
I insert this note to obviate the charges of severe critics, who accuse me of
dealing in "gross misrepresentations, false quotations, and forgeries," because I
'quote some authors when they speak as the oracles of God ; and do not swell my
book with their inconsistencies, when they contradict the Scriptures, reason, and
the truths which they themselves have advanced in some happy moments ; and
because I cannot force my reason to maintain with them both sides of a glaring
contradiction.
O ye Deistical moralists ! let me meet with more candour, justice, and mercy
from you, than I have done from the warm oppoeers of the second Gospel
axiom. It is enough that you discard Scripture ; do not, like them, make it a
part of your orthodoxy, to murder reason, and kick common sense out of doors 1
FOURTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 309
they are, literally, " righteous overmuch." Becoming meritmongers,
they make a stock of their works of supererogation, set up shop with
the righteousness they can spare to others, and expose to sale indul-
gences and pardons out of their pretended treasury. Nor are there
wanting sons of Simon, who with ready money purchase, as they think,
not livings in the Church below, but, which is far preferable, seats in the
Church above, and good ■places at the heavenly court.
Was ever a robe of righteousness (I had almost said a fool's coat) so
coarsely woven by the slaves of imposture and avarice ; and so deai'ly
bought by the sons of superstition cind credulity ?
O ye spiritual Ethiopians, who paint yourselves all over with the cor-
roding white of hypocrisy, and after all, are artful enough to lay on red
paint, and imitate the blush of humble modesty ; ye that borrow vktue's
robes to procure admiration, and put on religion's cloak to hide your shame-
ful deformity : ye that deal in external righteousness, to carry on \vith
better success the most sordid of all trades, that of sm; of the worst of sins,
pride ; oi the worst pride, that which is spiritual : ye numerous follow.
ers o( those whom the Prophet of Christians called crafty " serpents,"
and soft " brood of vipers ;" ye to whom he declared that " pubhcans
and harlots shall enter the kingdom of heaven before you ;" if I call you
in last, to prove the desperate wickedness of the human heart, it is not
because I esteem you the weakest advocates of the truth I contend for,
but because you really are the strongest of my witnesses.
And now, candid reader, forget not plain matter of fact;' recollect the
evidence given by reason ; pass sentence upon these last arguments,
which I have offered to thy consideration ; and say whether man's dis-
position and conduct toward his Creator, liis fellow creatures, and him-
self, do not abundantly prove that he is by nature in a fallen and lost
estate.
PART IV.
The preceding arguments recommend themselves to the common sense
of thinlting heathens, and the conscience of reasonable Deists ; as being
all taken from those two amazing volumes which are open to, and legible
by, all, the tiioM and man. The following are taken from a third
volume, the Bible, despised by the wits of the age, merely because they
study and understand it even less than the other two. " The Bible !"
says one of them with a smile, " save yourself the trouble of producing
arguments drawn from that old legend, unless you first demonstrate its
authenticity by the noble faculty to which you appeal in these pages."
For the sake of such objectors, I here premise, by way of digression, a
few rational arguments to evince, as far as my contracted plan will allow,
the Divine authority of the Scriptures.
1. The sacred penmen, the prophets, and apostles, were holy, excel-
lent men, and would not, — artless, illiterate men, and therefore could
not, — ^lay the horrible scheme of deludhig mankind. The hope of gain
did not influence them, for they were self-denying men, that left all to
follow a Master who " had not where to lay his head ;" and whose grand
initiating maxim was, " Except a man forsake all that he hath, he can-
310 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
not be my disciple." They were so disinterested that they secured
nothing on earth but hiuiger and nakedness, stocks and prisons, racks
and tortures ; which, indeed, were all that they could or did expect, in
consequence of Christ's express declarations. Neither was a desire of
honour the motive of their actions ; for their Lord himself was treated
with the utmost contempt, and had more than once assured them that
they should certainly share the same fate : beside, they were humble
men, not above working as mechanics for a coarse maintenance ; and
so little desirous of human regai'd, that they exposed to the world the
meanness of their birth and occupations, their great ignorance and
scandalous falls.
Add to this, that they were so many, and lived at such distance of
time and place from each other, that had they been impostors, it would
have been impracticable for them to contrive and carry on a forgeiy
without being detected. And as they neither would nor could deceive
the world, so they neither could nor would be deceived themselves : for
they were days, months, and years, eye and ear witnesses of the things
which they relate ; and when they had not the fullest evidence of im-
portant facts, they insisted upon new proofs, and even upon sensible
demonstrations ; as, for instance, Thomas, in the matter of our Lord's
resurrection, John xx, 25. And, to leave us no room to question their
sincerity, most of them joyfully sealed the truth of their doctrines with
their own blood. Did so many and such marks of veracity ever meet in
any other authors ?
2. But even while they lived, they confirmed their testimony by a
variety of miracles, wrought in divers places, and for a number of
years ; sometimes before thousands of their enemies, as the miracles of
Christ and his disciples ; sometimes before hundreds of thousands, as
those of Moses. These miracles were so well kno^vn and attested, that
when both Christ and Moses appealed to their authenticity, before their
bitterest opposers, mentioning the persons upon whom, as well as the
particular times when, and the places where, they had been performed ;
the facts were never denied, but passed over in silence, or maliciously
attributed to the prince of the devils. By such a pitiful slander as this,
Porphyry, Hierocles, Celsus, and Julian the apostate, those learned and
inveterate enemies of Christianity, endeavoured (as the Pharisees had
done before them) to sap the argument founded upon the miracles of
Christ and his disciples. So sure then as God would never have dis-
played his arm, in the most astonisliing maimer, for the support of
imposture,* the sacred penmen had their commission from the Almighty,
and their writings are his lively oracles.
3. Jleason itself dictates, that nothing but the plainest matter of fact
could induce so many thousands of prejudiced and persecuting Jews to
embrace the humbling, self-denying doctrine of the cross, which they so
much despised and abhon-ed. Nothing but the clearest evidence, arising
* Once indeed the Lord permitted the magicians of Egypt so to use their art,
as to counterfeit for a time some of Moses' miracles ; but it was only to make the
authenticity of otliers more conspicuous. This being the happy effect of the con-
test, when these ministers of Satan withdrew confounded, and were forced to
acknowledge that the finger of God was evidently displayed through the rod of
their antagonist.
FOURTH.) AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 311
trom undoubted truth, could make multitudes of lawless, luxurious
heathens receive, follow, and transmit to posterity the doctrines and
writings of the apostles ; especially at a time when the vanity of their
pretensions to miracles and the gift of tongues could be so easily dis-
covered, had they been impostors, — at a time when the pi'ofession of
Christianity exposed persons of all ranks to the greatest contempt, and
most imminent danger. In this respect the case of the primitive Chris-
tians widely difTered from that of Mohammed's followers : for those w ho
adhered to the warlike, violent impostor, saved their lives and properties,
or attained to honour, by their new, easy, and flesh-pleasing religion : but
those who devoted themselves to the meek, self-denying, crucified
Jesus, were frequently spoiled of their goods, and cruelly put to death 5
or if they escaped with their lives, were looked upon as the very dregs
of mankind.
Add to this, that some of the most profound parts of the Scriptures
were addressed to the hihabitants of polite Greece and triumphant
Rome ;* among whom philosophy and literature, with the firfe arts and
sciences, were in the highest perfection ; and who, consequently, were
less liable to be the dupes of forgery and imposture. On the contrary,
gross ignorance overspread those countries, where Mohammed first
broached his absurd opinions, and propagated them with the sword : a
sure sign this, that the sacred writers did not, like that impostor, avail
themselves of the ignorance, weakness, and helplessness of their fol-
lowers, to impose falsehood upon them.
4. When the authenticity of the miracles was attested by thousands
of living witnesses, rehgious rites were instituted and performed by
hundreds of thousands, agreeable to Scripture injunctions, in order to
perpetuate that authenticity. And these solemn ceremonies have ever
since been kept up in all parts of the world ; the passover by the Jews,
in remembrance of Moses' miracles in Egypt ; and the eiicharist by
Christians, as a memorial of Christ's death and the miracles that
accompanied it, some of which are recorded by Phlegon the TralHan, a
heathen historian.
5. The Scriptures have not only the external sanction of miracles,
but the internal stamp of the omniscient God, by a variety of prophecies,
some of which have already been most exactly confirmed by the event
predicted ; witness the rise and fall of the four grand monarchies,
according to Daniel's prophecy, chap, ii and vii ; and the destruction of
* " Not many noble, not many wise, are called," says the apostle : nevertheless,
some of both, even at the rise of Christianity, openly stood up for its truth.
Among the nohU we find Joseph, a member of the great Jewish council, Diony-
sius, one of the judges at Athens, and Flavins Clemens, a Roman senator ; and
among the wine, Quadratus, Aristides, and Athenagoras, Athenian philosophers ;
Clemens, Arnobius, Ammonius, Annatolius, &c, men of great learning at Alex,
andria; and at Rome, Justin Martyr and Tertullian, both famous apologists for
the religion of Jesus ; the latter of whom, in the second century, told the Roman
governors, that their corporations, councils, and armies, and the emperor's palace,
were full of Christiana ; nor is this improbable, since so early as St. Paul's days,
"the saints of Cesar's household saluted" those of the Roman provinces, Phil.
iv, 2. How credulous are they who can belieye that persons of such rank and
learning could be deluded by Jewish fishermen into the worship of a crucified
impostor !
312 AN APPKAL TO MATTER OF FACT. (PART
the city aiid temple of Jerusalem, foretold by Christ, Matt, xxiv, 2, while
others are every day fulfilled in the face of infidels, particularly the
persecution of the real disciples of Christ in our own times, as well as
in all ages ; see Matt, x, 22, 35 ; John xv, 30 ; and Gal. iv, 29 ; and the
present miserable state of the Jews, so exactly described by Moses
above three thousand yoai's ago ; see Deut. xxviii, 65.
6. Sometimes the plainest prophecies^ the most public miracles, and
the annals of kingdoms, well known when these books were first
received, wonderfully concur to demonstrate their authenticity. Take
one instance out of man}'. A prophet out of Judah, above three hundred
years before the event, thus foretold the pollution of Jeroboam's altar at
Bethel, before Jeroboam himself, who was attended by his priests, his
courtiers, and, no doubt, a vast number of idolatrous worshippers : " O
altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, Behold, a child shall be bom unto the
house of David, Josiah by name, who shall burn men's bones upon
thee :" and " this is the sign : behold," this very day, " the altar shall
be rent, and the ashes that are upon it scattered." King Jeroboam,
inflamed with anger, " stretched forth his hand against the man of God,
saying," to his guards, " Lay hold on him :" but his extended hand
" was dried up so that he could not pull it in again to him ;" the rending
of the altar aiad scattering of the fire instantly took place ; and the
capital prophecy was exactly fulfilled by pious King Josiah, as you may
see by comparing 1 Kings xiii, 1, &;c, with 2 Kings xxiii, 15, &c.
Can we reasonably suppose that books, containing accounts of such
public events, would have been received as Divine by a divided people,
if their authenticity had not been confirmed by indubitable matter of
fact ? Nay, is it not as absurd to assert it, as it would be to afiirm, that
the offices for the fifth of November and the thirtieth of January,
were forged by crafty priests ; and that the Papists, Puritans, and
Royalists of the last centuiy, agreed to impose upon the world the
history of the gunpowder plot and of King Charles' decollation, with
which those parts of our liturgy are so inseparably connected l
7. This scattered, despised people, the irreconcilable enemies of the
Christians, keep with amazing care the Old Testament,* full of the pro-
phetic history of Jesus Christ, and by that means aflord the world a
striking proof that the New Testament is true ; and Christians in their
turn show, that the Old Testament is abundantly confirmed and explained
by the New. The earl of Rochester, the great wit of the last century,
* If the histories contained in tlie Old Testament were in general for the
credit of the Jews, the love of praise might indeed have engaged some of them to
join in a public forgery. But that book, of which they have alwa3's been so
tenacious, presents the world chiefly with an account of their monstrous ingrati-
tude, unparalleled obstinacy, perpetual rebellions, abominable idolatries; and of
the fearful judgments which their wickedness brought upon them. Moses, who
leads the van of their sacred authors, sums up his history of the Israelites, and
draws up their character in these disgraceful words, which he spake to their
face: "Ye have been rebellious against the I^ord from the day that I knew you,"
Deut. ix, 24. And even David and Solomon, their greatest kings, are represented
in those books as guilty of the greatest enormities. O ye Deists, I appeal to
your reason, and ask, Would you die for, would you even connive at. a notorious
forgery, supposing the design of it were merely to impose upon the world as
Divine, a book that should perpetually stigmatize your ancestors, and fix horrid
blots upon the names, for which you have the greatest veneration ?
FOURTH.J AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 313
was so struck with this proof, that upon reading the fifty-third chapter
of Isaiah, with floods of penitential tears he lamented his former
infidelity, and warmly embraced the feiith which he had so publicly
ridiculed.
8. To say nothing of the venerable antiquity and wonderful preserva-
tion of those books, some of which are by far the most ancient in the
world ; to pass over the inimitable simplicity and true sublimity of their
style, they caiTy with them such characters of truth, as command the
respect of ever\' unprejudiced reader.
They open to us the mystery of the creation, the nature of God,
angels, and man, the immortality of the soul,* the end for which we
were made, the origin and connection of moral and natural evil, the
vanity of this world and the glory of the next. There we see inspired
shepherds, tradesmen, and fishermen, surpassing as much the greatest
philosophers, as these did the herd of mankind, both in meekness of
wisdom and sublimity of doctrine. Tliere we admire the purest morality
in the world, agreeable to the dictates of soiuid reason, confirmed by the
witness which God has placed for himself in our breast, and exemplified
in the lives of men of like passions with ourselves. Tliere we discover
a vein of ecclesiastical histoiy and theological truth, consistently iiinning
through a collection of sLxty-six different books, written by various
authors, in different languages, during the space of above fifteen hundred
years. There we find, as in a deep and pure spring, all the genuine
drops and streams of spiritual knowledge which can possibly be met
with in the largest libraries. There the "workings of the human heart
are described, in a manner that demonstrates the inspiration of the
Searcher of hearts. There we have a particular account of all our
spiritual maladies, with their various symptoms, and the method of a
certain cure ; a cure that has been witnessed by millions of martyrs and
departed saints, and is now enjoyed by thousands of good men, who
would account it an honour to seal the truth of the Scriptures with their
own blood. There you meet with the noblest strains of penitential and
joyous devotion, adapted to the dispositions and states of all travellers
to Sion : and there you read those awful threatenings and cheering
promises which are daily fulfilled in the consciences of men, to the
admiration of lielievei's, and the astonishment of attentive infidels.
9. The wonderfiil efficacy of the Scriptiu'es is another proof that they
are of God. When they are faithfully opened by his ministers, and
powerfully applied by his Spirit, they "wound and heal," they "kill
and make alive," they alarm the careless, turn or enrage the wicked,
direct the lost, support the tempted, strengthen the weak, comfort
mourners, and nourish pious souls. As the woman of Samaria said of
Jesus, " Come, see a man that told me all that ever I did : is not this
the Christ?" a good man can say of the Bible, " Come, see a book that
told me all that was in my heart, and acquainted me with the various
trials and dangers I have met with in my spiritual travels : a book where
I have found those truths, which, like a Divinely tempered sword, have
* It is remarkable that the wisest heathens, with all their philosophy, seldom
attained to a full assurance of the immortality of the soul. Cicero himself says,
'^ Nescio quttmodo, dum lego assentior ; cum posui librum, etinecum ipse de immor.
talitate animorum c<epi cogitare, assentio omnis ilia elahitur." (Tusc. Quaast. lib. 1.
314 AN APPKAI. TO MATTER OF FACT. (PART
cut my way tlirough all the snares and forces of my spiritual adver-
saries ; and by whose directions my soul has happily entered the paradise
of Divine and brotherly love : is not this the book of God ?"
10. To conclude : It is exceedingly remarkable that the more hum-
ble and holy people are, the more they read, admire, and value the
Scriptures ; and, on the contrar}', the more self conceited, worldly
minded, and wicked, the more they neglect, despise, and asperse them.
As for the objections which are raised against their perspicuity and
consistency, those who are both pious and learned know that they are
generally founded on prepossession, and the want of understanding in
spiritual things ; or on our ignorance of several customs, idioms, and
circumstances which were perfectly known when those books were
written. Frequently also the immaterial error arises merely from a
wrong punctuation, or a mistake of copiers, printers, or translators ; as the
daily discoveries of pious critics, and ingenuous confessions of unpreju-
diced inquirers, abundantly prove.
To the preceding arguments, I beg leave to add the following queries :
Do not disbelievers, by supposing that the Scriptures are a forged book,
and, consequently, that Christianity is a false religion, run upon the very
rocks which they seem so afraid of? And may they not be charged with
indirectly setting their seal to opinions far more incredible than those
which they reject ?
(1.) O ye disputers of this world, if ye believe that Moses and Jesus
Christ, St. Peter and St. Paul, publicly worked sham miracles for years,
in various cities and countries, before thousands of their sharp-sighted
opposers, without being ever detected in any of their tricks ; might you
not as reasonably believe that thousands of shi-ewd men were once
turned into stupid asses ?
(2.) If you believe that the Gospel is the production of human deceit,
and yet, that in the prodigious number of apostates once concerned in
carrying on the amazing villainy, such as Judas, Demas, Simon Magus,
Alexander the coppersuiith, who did St. Paul so much evil, Ace, not one
was ever found that would prove the forgery : might you not as reason-
ably believe, that if Mr. Wilkes, and all his friends, knew of a gross
villainy carried on by the ministry, in order to turn the kingdom upside
down ; neither he, nor any one of them, could ever be prevailed upon
to disclose and prove it to the world ?*
(3.) You believe that the miracles and resurrection of Christ, together
with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, were nothing but enthusiastical or
knavish pretensions ; and yet you are forced to grant, that thousands of
Jews, strongly attached to their religion, amazingly averse to that of
Jesus, and guilty of persecuting him unto death, took him openly for
their Saviour a few weeks after they had seen him publicly scourged ;
and in the very city in sight of which he had just been crucified between
two thieves. Now is not this as absurd as to believe, that if a few fisher-
* Pliny, a learned and prudent Roman governor, who was employed by the
Emperor Trajan in stopping the progress of Christianit}', wrote to him, that the
apostates affirmed, the whole of their crime had been to meet before day, and
sing a hymn to Christ as to their God. His own words are : " Affirmabant hane
fuisse summam vel culpa suce, vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem
convenire, carmenque Chrisfo quasi Deo dicere."
FOURTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 315
men cried up the last person hanged in London for a notorious forgeiy ;
and if they affirmed that he was the Son of God, appeaUng to a great
number of miracles supposed to have been wrought by him in the
squares and hospitals of the metropolis, and especially in St. Paul's
church yard ; and maintaining that some of them had been acknow-
ledged genuine by the great council of the nation ;* they could, by such
notorious hes, engage thousands of citizens, and some aldei'men, to put
all their trust in the villain hanged at their special request ?
(4.) You believe that Christianity is a gross imposture ; and yet you
cannot deny that thousands of learned Romans and wise Greeks, who
agreed to despise the Jews al)ove all other men, took for their Saviour
that very Jesus, of whom his own countrymen had been ashamed, and
whom they had crucified as an impostor. Is not this as absurd as to
beUeve, that thousands of wise Englishmen, and sensible Frenchmen,
could be induced by the absurd tale of two or three Hottentots, to wor-
ship a certain Hottentot whom the whole nation of Hottentots had con-
demned to be hanged, as being more worthy of an ignominious death
than the bloody ringleader of a seditious mob ?
(5.) If you beheve, with one of the popes, that the history of Christ is
" a mere fable," and that there never was such an extraordinary person,
you believe that the heathens, the Jews, and the Mohammedans have
agreed with the Christians, their sworn enemies, to carry on the most
amazing imposture. For Phny, Tacitus, Lucian, and Suetonius, heathen
authors, who lived soon after Christ, make express mention of him ; as
do also Mohammed, many of the rabbies, and Julian the emperor, that
powerful and crafty- apostate, who not only never denied Christ's exist-
ence, but openly acknowledged that Paul, Mark, Matthew, and Peter,
were the authors of the Gospels and Epistles which bear their name.
Now is not this as ridiculous as to beheve, that the pope, the mufti, and
the inquisitors, have laid their heads together with Messrs. Voltaire,
Hume, and Rousseau, to favour a forgery subversive of popery, Moham-
medanism, and infidelity 1
(6.) If you deny the authenticity of the four Gospels, which are the
only ancient histories that we have of our Saviour, and yet beheve that
there was such a personage as Jesus Christ, whose fame so spread
through the Roman empire, that in lees than three hundred and thirty
years he was not only reckoned superior to the Roman emperor, but to
Jupiter himself; and that, nevertheless, not one historian, during alt
that time, gave the world a particular account of him, [which must be
the case, if the four Gospels are a forgery,] might you not as reasonably
* Some remarkable instances of this we have in the sacred books, published
when the facts mentioned therein were notorious, and when some of tlie persons
named were probably 3'et alive. After the resurrection of Lazarus, "the chief
priests and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we ? for this man
doeth many miracles. If we let him alone, all men will believe on him," John
xi, 47. And after Peter and John had publicly cured the cripple who used to beg
at the gate of the temple, "the rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the
high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the
kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem, saying, What
shall we do to these men ? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by
them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it,"
Acts iv, 5-16.
316 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
suppose, that, it' a blazing meteor appeared in our day, and eclipsed the
stars, the moon, and the sun itself, no astronomer for several centuries
would take particular notice of so wonderful a phenomenon ?
(7.) If the Gospel is a delusion, you believe that St. Paul, who was a
man of sense, learning, and intrepidity, was seduced by — nobody, to
preach for near thirty years with astonishing zeal and matchless hard-
ships, an imposture, against the abettors of which he just before
" breathed" nothing but " threatenings and slaughter." Would it be
half so absurd to believe that Mr. Wilkes has suddenly commenced the
minister's advocate, goes through the kingdom to recommend the present
administration, and accounts it an honour to be mobbed, whipped, or
stoned in every borough for his excessive attachment to the king ?
(8.) The instantaneous conversion of thousands was wrought by means
of public appeals to notorious matter of fact. Hear the language of the
apostles to the Jews: "This ye yourselves know," Acts ii, 12. "Ye
know the thing done through all Judea," Acts x, 37, 38. " The king
knmoeth these things." " This thing was not done in a corner," Acts
xxvi, 26. Now if Christianity is not founded upon indubitable facts,
might you not as well believe, that twelve men broke loose from bedlam,
brought last year thousands of Deists over to Christianity, by saying to
them, " Ye ktiow" — what you are perfect strangers to ; that is, " Ye
know" that we are a pack of bedlamites !
(9.) If the Gospel is forged, you believe that the Corinthians, &c,
handed down to posterity, as a sacred treasure, epistles where St. Paul
mentions their amazing conversion from gross immoralities ; congratu-
lates them about the spiritual or miraculous gifts, in which they abound-
ed, 1 Cor. xii, 1, and gives them particular directions how to use the
" gift of tongues" to edification ; when yet they were totally unacquainted
with any such things. Might you not with equal wisdom believe that,
if Mr. Wilkes wrote to the house of commons a congratulatoiy epistle
about their having received, by tJie laying on of his hands, the power of
speaking Turkish, Arabic, and Chinese, they would carefully transmit
his letter to the next generation as a Divine perfonnance ; and that none
of Mr. Wilkes' enemies would ever expose the impudence of so absurd
a pretension ?
(10.) If you say that the apostles were fools, you must believe that
foolish fishermen laid a scheme with so much wisdom, and carried it on
with so much art, as to deceive multitudes of Greeks noted for their acute-
ness, and numbers of Romans famous for their prudence. Might you
not as well beUeve that twelve poor, unarmed idiots once combined to
take the strongest towns in Europe, and accomplished their strange
design by means that strike the profoundest poUticians with astonish-
ment ?
(11.) If you affirm, that the apostles were cJieats and liars, you run
into as great a difficulty ; for you must believe that the greatest knaves
that ever existed, contrary to their own principles and advantage, went
through the world, exposing themselves to the greatest hardships and
severest tortures unto death, to recommend, both by their example and
precepts, the strictest piety toward God, and the most scrupulous honesty
toward man ; perpetually denouncing eternal destruction to cheats and
hypocrites, and the torments of a " lake that burnetii with fire and brim-
FOURTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER i)F FACT. 317
Stone to every one who loveth or maketh a lie." Would it be more ab-
surd to believe that the twelve greatest epicures in England have, for a
course of } ears, fulfilled a mutual agi-eement of preaching, night and
day, abstinence and fasting through the three kingdoms, merely to have
the pleasure of starving to death for their pains ?
(12.) To conclude : if the Gospel (and consequently the Scripture) is
an imposture, you suppose that some poor Galilean fishermen, only by
means of an absurd lie, which they told without wit, and wrote without
elegance, foiled the multitude of the Jewish and Pagan priests, who
had prejudice, custom, profession, learning, oratory, wealth, laws,
governors, and emperors on their side ; yea, and truth also, upon your
principles, at least when they decried the Gospel as a cheat. Would it
be more ridiculous to beheve that David killed Goliah with a grain of
sand, and cut off his head with a spire of grass ; or that our sailors sink
men of war with a puff of breath, while our soldiers batter down ram-
parts with snow balls?
O ye sons of worldly wisdom, drop your unjust prejudices; candidly
weigh both sides of the question, and you will soon see, that, in reject-
ing the Gospel as an imposture, you display a far greater degree of
credulity than we do in cordially receiving it.
After this short defence of the oracles of God, and this little attack
upon the persons who suspect their authenticity, I hope I may (con-
sistently with the plan of an appeal, to reason) produce from the Scrip-
TUREs a few more arguments to prove the original depravity and lost
estate of mankind.
THIRTY- FIRST ARGUMENT.
The spiritual life of the soul consists in its union with God, as the
natural Ufe of the body does in its union with the soul ; and as poison
and the sword kill the latter, so unbelief and sin destroy the former.
The first man was endued with this two-fold life : " God," says the
Divine historian, " breathed into him the breath of hves, and he became
a living" body and a living " soul :" he had both an animal life in com-
mon with beasts, and a spiritual hfe in common with angels. St. Paul,
who calls this angeUcal life " the life of God," intimates that it consisted
both in that experimental knotciedge of our Creator, wherein, says our
Church, "standeth our eternal hfe;" and "in righteousness and true
holiness," the moral and most glorious image of the Supreme Being.
To suppose man was created void of this essential knowledge and holy
love, is to suppose he came very wicked out of the hands of the Parent
of all good ; for what is a rational creature, that neither knows nor loves
his Creator, but a monster of stupidity and ingratitude, a wretch actually
dead to God, and deserving present destruction ?
When the Lord, therefore, said to man, " In the day thou eatest
thereof," that is, in the day that thou sinnest, " thou shalt surely die,"
it was as if he had said, " In that very day sin shall assuredly separate
between thee and the God of thy life ; thou shalt certainly lose the glo-
rious view which thou hast of my boundless goodness and infinite per-
fections : thou shalt infallibly quench the spirit of ardent love, and stop
the breath of delightful praise by wliich thou livest both to my glory and
thy comfort : and thy soul, ' dead in trespasses and sins,' shall remain
318 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
in the filthy prison of a mortal body, till death breaks it open to remove
thee to thy own place."
And was not this Adam's case after his fall ? Did he not " know that
he was naked," stripped of the glorious image of his Creator? Did not
guilty shame immediately prompt him to hide, and protect, as well as he
could, his degenerate and enfeebled body ? Devoid of the ardent love
he felt for God before, and of the pure delight he enjoyed in him, was
not he left the wretched prey of tormenting fears 1 Did he not evidence
his hatred of his heavenly Benefactor, by dreading his voice, and flying
from him as hastily as he should have fled from the infernal serpent ?
Was he not deprived of the knowledge by wliich at first sight he dis-
covered the nature of Eve, and gave to all living creatures names ex-
pressive of their respective properties ? Was he not, I say, deprived of
that intuitive knowledge and excellent wisdom, when he foolishly " hid
himself among the trees" from his all-seeing, omni'present Creator ? And
is it not evident that he was lost to all sense of filial fear toward God,
and conjugal love toward Eve, when, instead of self accusations, peni-
tential confessions, and earnest pleas for mercy, he showed nothing at
his trial but stubbornness, malice, and insolence ?
Such was the state of corruption into which Adam had deplorably
fallen, before he multiplied the human species. Now, according to the
invariable laws of Providence, an upright, holy nature can no more pro-
ceed from a fallen, sinful one, than gentle lambs can be begotten by
fierce tigers, or harmless doves by venomous serpents. Common sense,
therefore, and natural philosophy, dictate that our fii'st parents could not
communicate the angelical life which they had lost, nor impart to their
children a better nature than their own ; and that their depra\ity is as
much ours by nature, as the fierceness of the first lion is the natural
property of all the hons in the world.
FOUR OBJECTIONS.
I. Should it be said, "This doctrine reflects on the attributes of God ;
who, as the wise and gracious Governor of the world, should have fore-
seen and prevented the fall of Adam :"
I answer, (1.) "God made man in his image," part of which consists
in free agency, or a power to determine his own actions. And if
creating a free agent is not repugnant to Divine wisdom and goodness ;
the wrong choice, or sin of a free agent, can be no impeachment of those
perfections in the Deity.*
* God answers thus for himself in Milton : —
Man will fall,
He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault ?
Whose but his own ? Ingrate ! he had of me
All he could have ; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
Such I created all the ethereal powers ;
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,
Where only what they needs must do appear'd ;
Not what they would ? What praise could they receive 1
What pleasure I from such obedience paid,
FOURTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 319
(2.) Suppose man had not been endued with freedom of choice,
he would only have ranked among adinirable machines, and nothing
could have been more absurd than to place him in a state of probation.
And suppose, when he was in that state, Divine power had irresistibly
turned the scale of his will to obedience, the trial would have been
■prevented, and the counsel of Divine wisdom foolishly defeated.
(3.) God did all that a wise and good ruler of rational and free crea-
tures could do to prevent sin. He placed in Adam's heart a vigorous
principle of holiness ; he granted him sufficient strength to continue in
obedience ; he indulged him with his blessed presence and converse, to
encourage him in the way of duty ; he strictly forbade him to sin ; he
enforced the prohibition by the fearful threatening of death ; he promised
to crown his continuance in holiness with a glorious immortality ; and
gave him " the tree of life" as a pledge of this inestimable blessing. To
have gone farther would have been entirely inconsistent with his wis-
dom ; an absolute restraint being as contrary to the liberty of a moral
agent, and the nature of the Divine law, as chaining down a harmless
man that he may not commit murder, is contrary to the freedom of
Englishmen, and the laws of this realm. Nor can we, either with reason
or decency, complain that God did not make us absolutely immutable and
perfect like himself: this is charging him with folly for not enduing us
with infinite wisdom, and knowledge every way boundless ; that is, for
not making us gods mstead of men.
(4.) In case man fell, Divme mercy had decreed his recovery by
Jesus Christ : and when the almighty Redeemer shall have brought life
out of death, and light out of darkness, the mysterious drama of creation
and redemption, of which we see but one or two acts, will appear, even
to our objectors, every way worthy of its infinitely wise and gracious
Author.
When will and reason, (reason also is choice,)
Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,
Made passive both, had serv'd necessity.
Not me ? They, therefore, as to right belong'd,
So were created, nor can justly accuse
Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,
As if predestination overruled
Their will, disposed by absolute decree.
Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed
Their own revolt, not I ; if I foreknew.
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault.
Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.
Young expresses the same sentiment with his peculiar boldness and energy : —
Blame not the bowels of the Deity :
Man shall be bless'd as far as man 'permits.
Not man alone, all rationals. Heaven arms
With an illustrious, but tremendous power
To counteract its own most gracious ends I
And this of strict necessity, not choice ;
That power denied, men, angels, were no more,
But passive engines, void of praise or blame.
Heaven wills our happiness, allows our doom ;
Invites us ardently, but not compels :
Heaven but persuades, almighty man decrees ;
Man is the maker of innnortal fates ;
Man falls by man, if finally he falls.
320 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
II. In the meantime they will still urge, that " Adam's posterity (then
unborn) could not justly partake of the consequences of his transgres-
sions." But shall cavils overthrow matter of fact ? Do not we see in
every unrenewed person, the unbelief, pride, sinful curiosity, sensuahty,
and alienation from God, to which our first parents were subjected at their
fall ? Do not women bear children with sorrow as well as Eve ? Is the
ground less cursed for us than for Adam? And do not we toil, suffer, and
die as he did ? If this order of things were unjust, would the righteous
God have permitted its continuance to the present time 1 Beside,
Adam contained in himself, as in miniature, all his posterity. The
various nations of men are nothing but difiereut branches growuig from
that original root. They are Adam, or man, existing at large ; as the
branches of a spreading oak, with all the acoms that have grown upon,
and dropped from them, during a long succession of summers, are
nothing but the original acorn, unfolding and multiplying itself with all
its essential properties. It is then as ridiculous to wonder that the sons
of depraved Adam should naturally be depraved, as that an acorn should
naturally produce an oak ; and a poisonous root a malignant plant.
Again :
Adam was the general head, representative, and father of mankind ;
and we suffer for his rebellion legally ; as the children of those who
have sold themselves for slaves are born in a state of wretched slavery;
and as the descendants of a noble traitor lose the title by their ancestor's
crime : naturally, as the sons of a bankrupt suffer poverty for their father's
extravagance, or as "Gehazi's leprosy clave to him and his seed for
ever :" and unavoidably, as an unborn child shares the fate of his unhappy
mother, when she inadvertently poisons, or desperately stabs herself.
III. " But," say the same objectors, " supposing it be granted that we
are naturally depraved ; yet if our depravity is natural, it is necessary ;
and we are no more blamable for it, than lions for theii" fierceness, or
Ethiopians fur their black complexion."
(1.) Our objectors would not, I presume, be understood to insinuate by
" blamable," that our depravity does not render us detestable in the eyes
of a holy God, or tliat it is not in itself blaineworthy. Do they less dis-
like the complexion of the Ethiopians, or less detest the destructive rage
of lions, because it is natural to them ? If moral dispositions ceased to
be worthy of praise or dispraise, as soon as they are rooted, morally
necessary, and in that sense natural ; what absurd consequences would
follow ! Sinners would become guiltless by arriving at complete impeni-
tency ; and God could not be praised for his holiness, nor Satan dispraised
for his sinfulness, holiness being as esseniial to God, by the absolute per-
fection of his nature, as sin is morally necessary to the devil, by the
unconquerable habit which he has wilfully contracted, and in which he
obstinately remains.
(2.) Should they mean that " we are not answerable or accountable for
our depravity," I reply, Though I should grant (which I am very far
from doing)* that we are no way accountable for our moral infection,
* Milton introduces Adam speaking thus : —
Ah, why should all mankind,
For one man's fault, thus guiltless be condemn'd,
If guiltless ? liut from me what can proceed.
roiTRTH.} a:?j appeal to matter of fact. 321
yet it cannot be denied that we are answerable for our obstinate refusal
of relief, and for the loilful neglect of the means found out by Divine
mercy for our cure. Can we justly charge God with either our mis-
fortune or our guilt ? Do not parents, by the law of nature, represent
their unborn posterity ? If Adam ruined us by a common transgression,
has not Christ, the second Adam, provided for us a common, salvation ?
Jude 3 ; Heb. ii, 3. If by "the offence of one, [Adam,] judgment
came upon all men to condemnation ; by the righteousness of one,
[Christ,] is" not " the free gift come upon all men to justification of life ?"
Rom. V, 18. And since God has declared that "the son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father" beyond the short period of this tremsitory
life ; if any suffer after death, is it not entirely for their own unbelief,
and peculiar sins?* Compare John iii, 18, 19, and Mark xvi, 16. But
what follows completely vindicates our Creator's goodness.
(3.) Do sin and misery aboimd by our fall in Adam ? Grace and
glory " abound much more" by our " redemption" in Jesus Christ, Rom.
v, 20. And " it must be owing to our own perverseness, or our own
negligence," says the ingenious Hervey, with great truth, " if we do not
levy a tax upon our loss, and rise even by our fall."f This leaves us
not the least shadow of reason to complain of the Divine proceedings
respecting us.
We may then conclude that a moral depravity, which comes upon ua
by the wilful choice of a parent, in whom we seminally and federally
existed, — a depravity which cleaves to us by an obstinate neglect of the
infinitely precious means provided to remove it, — a depravity which
works now by our ovm personal choice, and to which we daily give our
But all corrupt, both mind and will depraved,
Not to do only, but to will the same
With me ? How can they then acquitted stand
In sight of God ? Him after all disputes
Forced I absolve.
* Milton introduces God speaking thus to the Messiah : —
Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will.
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me
Freely vouchsafed : once more I will renew
His lapsed powers ; — yet once more he shall stand
On even ground against his mortal foe,
By me upheld. Be thou in Adam's room
The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.
As in him perish all men, so in thee,
As from a second root, shall be restored
As many as arc restored ; without thee, none.
His crimes make guilty all his sons ; thy merit
Imputed shall absolve them, who renounce
Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds ;
And live in thee transplanted, and from thee
Receive new life.
+ Creation's great superior, man, is thine ;
. Thine is redemption. How should this great truth
Raise man o'er man, and kindle seraphs here t ,
Redemption ■' 'Twas creation more sublime ;^
Redemption-' 'Twas the labour of the skies;
Far mare than labour, — it was death in heaven.
A truth so strange 1 'twere bold to think it true ;
If not far bolder still to disbelieve. Young.
Vol. hi, 21
322 a:* appeal to ^tA'^^ER of fact. {part
assent by the free commission of sins that arc avoidable, leaves us not
only accountable, but inexcusable before God.
IV. However, the advocates for the natural purity of the human race
(endeavouring to clog with difficulties what they camiot disprove to be
matter of fact) still assert, " As we have souls immediately from God, if
we are born sinful, he must either create sinful souls, which cannot be
supposed without impiety, or send sinless souls into sinful bodies, to be
defiled by the unhappy union, which is as inconsistent with his goodness
as his justice. Add to this," say the objectors, " that nothing can be more
unphilosophical than to suppose that a body, a mere lump of organized
matter, is able to communicate to a pure spirit that moral pollution, of
which itself is as incapable as the murderer's sword is incapable of
cruelty."
This specious objection, which Dr. Watts acknowledges to be " the
very chief point of difficulty in all the controversies about original sin,"
is wholly founded upon the vulgar notion that we have our souls imme-
diately from God by infusion. It will therefore entirely fall to the ground,
if we can prove, that we receive them, as well as our bodies, by tra-
duction from Adam. And that this is fact, appears, if I am not mistaken,
by the following arguments: —
(1.) We have no ground, from Scripture or reason, to think that adul-
terers can, when they please, put God upon creating new souls to animate
the spurious fruit of their crime. On the contrary, it is said that God
"rested on the seventh day from all his work" of creation.
(2.) Eve herself was not created but in Adam. God breathed no breath
of life into her, as he did into her husband, to make him " a hving soul."
Therefore, when Adam saw her, he said, " She shall be called woman,
because she [her whole self, not her body only] was taken out of man."
If then the soul of the first woman sprang from Adam's soul, as her body
from his body, what reason have we to believe that the souls of her pos-
terity are immediately infused, as Adam's was when God created him ?
(3.) All agree that, under God, we receive life from our parents ; and
if life, then certainly our soul, which is the principle of life.
(4.) Other animals have power to propagate their own species " after
its kind ;" they can generate animated bodies. Why should man be but
half a father ? When did God stint him to propagate the mere sliell of
his person, the body without the soul ? Was it when " he blessed him,
and said, Be fruitful, and multiply ?" When he spoke thus did he not
address himself to the soul, as well as to the body ? Can the body alone
either understand or execute a command ? Is it not, on the contrary,
highly reasonable to conclude that, by virtue of the Divme appointment
and blessing, the whole man can " be fruitful and multiply ;" and the soul,
under proper circumstances, can generate a soul, as a thought begets a
thought ; and can kindle the flame of life, as one taper Ughts another ;
without weakening its immortal substance, any more than God the Fa-
ther (if I may be allowed the comparison) impairs the Divine essence by
the eternal generation of his " only begotten Son ?"
(5.^ Does not matter of fact corroborate the preceding argument ? A
sprightly race horse generally begets a mettlesome colt; while a heavy
cart horse begets a colt that bears the stamp of its sire's dulness. And
is it not so with munldnd in geacrul ? The childica of the Hotteutcrts
FOUKTU.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 323
and Esquimaux are commonly as stupid, while those of the English and
French are usually as sharp as their parents. You seldom see a wit
springing from two half-witted people, or a fool descended fi'om very
sensible parents. The children of men of genius are frequently as
remarkable for some branch of hereditary genius, as those of blockheads
for their native stupidity. Nothing is more common than to see very
passionate emd flighty parents have very passionate and flighty children.
And I have a hundred times discovered, not only the features, look, and
complexion of a father or a mother in a child's face, but have seen a
congenial soul, looking out (if I may so speak) at those windows of the
body which we call the eyes. Hence I conclude, that the advice fre-
quently given to those who are about to choose a companion for life,
" Take care of tlie hreed,''^ is not absolutely without foundation ; although
some lay too much stress upon it, forgetting that a thousand unknown
accidents may form exceptions to the general rule ; and not considering
that the peculiarity of the father's breed may be happily corrected by
that of the mother, (and vice versa,) and that as the grace of God, yielded
to, may sxceeten the uwst temper ; so sin, persisted in, may sour the
best.
(6.) Again : Moses informs us, that fallen " Adam begat a son in his
own likeness, and after his image." But had he generated a body with-
out a soul, he would not have " begotten a son in his own likeness," since
he was not a mere mortal body, but a fallen, disembodied spirit. Com-
pare Gen. v, 3, with xlvi, 26.
" But upon this scheme," will objectors say, " if Adam was converted
Avhen he begat a son, he begat a converted soul." This does by no
means follow ; for if he was born of God after his fall, it was " by grace
through faith," and not by nature through generation. He could not,
therefore, communicate his spiritual regeneration by natural generation,
any more than a great scholar can propagate his learning together with
his species.
Should it be again objected, that " the soul is not generated, because
the Scriptures declare, ' the Lord is the Father of the spirits of all flesh,*
and ' the spirit returns to God who gave it :' " I answer. It is also written,
that Job ;uid David were " fearfully made and fashioned by the hands of
God in the womb ;" that he " formed Jeremiah in the belly ;" and that
" we are the offspring of Him who made of one blood all nations of men."
Now, if the latter sci'iptures do not exclude the interposition of parents
in the formation of their children's bodies, by what rule of criticism or
divinity can we prove, that the former exclude that interposition in the
production of their soids ?
Nor can materialists, who have no ideas of generation but such as are
gross and carnal like their own system, with any shadow of reason infer
that " if the soul is generated with the body, it will also perish with it."
For dissolution is so far from being a necessary consequence of the
spiritual generation of souls, that it would not so much as have followed
the generation of our bodies, if Adam had not brought " sin into the
world, and death by sin." Again : if wheat, a material seed, which grows
out of the same earthly clod with the chafl" that encloses it, can subsist
unimpaired when that mean cover is destroyed ; how much more can
the soul, (that spiritual, vital, heavenly power, which is of a nature sos
324 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PABT
vastly superior to the body in which it is confined,) continue to exist,
when flesh and blood are returned to their native dust !
Should some persons reject what I say of the traduction of souls, in
order to illustrate the derivation of original sin ; and should they say that
they have no more idea of the generation than honest Nicodemus had of
the regeneration of a spirit, I beg leave to observe two things : —
First. If such objectors are converted, they will not deny the regene.
ration of souls by the Spirit of God, since they experience it, and our
Lord speaks of it as a blessed reality, even while he represents it as a
mysteiy unknown as to the manner of it, John iii, 8-13. Now, if pious
souls have been regenerated from the beginning of the world, without
exactly knowing how ; is it reasonable to deny that souls are generated,
merely because we cannot exactly account for the manner in which that
wonder takes place ?
Secondly. Should my objectors be versed in natural philosophy, they
need not be told that even the kind of generation which they allow is as
much a mystery to man as the movement of a watch is to a child that
just sees the case and the glass. If they will not believe me, let them
believe him who " gave his heart, to search out by msdom concerning all
things that are done under heaven," and who, touching upon our ques-
tion, says, " As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how
the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child ; even so thou
knowest not the works of God who maketh all," Eccles. xi, 5.
For my part, I do not see why the same almighty Preserver of men,
who (as St. Paul tells us) made of one blood the bodies of all nations of
men, might not, of one active thought, and ardent desike, have made
the souls of all nations of men also. Have not thought and desire as great
affinity to the nature of the soul, as hlood has to that of the body 1 And,
consequently, are not our ideas of the traduction of the sovl as clear as
those which we can form of the generation of the hody ?
Having dwelt so long upon the manner in which mankind naturally
propagate original corruption, together with their whole species, I hope
I may reasonably resume the conclusion of my argument, and affirm,
that if Adam corrupted the fountain of human nature in himself, we, the
streams, cannot but be naturally corrupted.
therty-second argujment.
God being a Spirit, reason and revelation jointly inform us, that hia
law is spiritual, and extends to our thoughts and tempers, as well as to
our words and actions. At all times, and in all places, it forbids every
thing that is sinful, or has the least tendency to sin ; it commands all
that is excellent, and enjoins it to be done with the utmost perfection of
our dispensation.
Therefore, if we have not always trusted and delighted in God, more
than in all things and persons ; if for one instant we have loved or feared
" the creature more than the Creator," we " have" had " another god
beside the Lord," Col. iii, 5 ; Phil, iii, 19. Have we once omitted to
adore him " in spirit and in truth" inwardly, or at any time worshipped
him without becoming veneration outwardly? we have transgressed as
if we had " bowed to a graven image," John iv, 24. Tliough perjuiy
and imprecations should never have defiled our lips ; }et, if ever we
FOURTH.] AN APPEAI. TO MXTTV.IR OF FACT. 325
mentioned God's tremendous aame thoughtlessly, or irreverently, in '
prayer, reading, or conversation, we have " taken it in vain," and tlie
Searcher of hearts " vvill not hold" us "guiltless," Pliil. ii, 10. And if
it has not been our constant practice and delight to " enter his courts
with praise," and spend the whole Sabbath in his blessed service, we
have polluted that sacred day, and the guilt of profaneness may justly
be charged upon us, Isaiah Iviii, 18.
Did we ever show any disrespect to our superiors, or unkindness to
our equals and inferiors ? we have violated the precept that commands
us to " honour all men," and be punctual in the discharge of all social
and relative duties, 1 Pet. ii, 17. Did we ever weaken our constitution
by excess, strike our neighbour in anger, wound his character with an
injurious word, or only suffer hatred to rise in our breast against him ?
we have committed a species of murder : for " whosoever shall say to
his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire ;" and " whoso-
ever hateth his brother is a murderer," Matt, v, 22 ; 1 John iii, 15. Are
we " the friends of the world ?" an apostle brands us with the name of
" adulterers," because we are false to our heavenly Bridegroom, James
iv, 4. And if we have only " looked on a woman to lust after her,"
Christ declares we " have committed adultery with her already in our
heart," Matt, v, 28. Have we overcharged our customers, exacted
upon any one in our bargains, insisted on a full salary for work done
by halves, defrauded the king of any part of his taxes, or taken advan-
tage of the necessity and ignorance of others to get by their loss ? we
swell the numerous tribe of reputable thieves, and genteel robbers. Matt,
xxii, 21. Neglecting to keep our word and baptismal vow, or speak-
ing an untruth, is " bearing false witness against our neighbour," our-
selves, or Christ, who styles himself " the Truth," Rev. xxii, 15. And
giving place to a fretful, discontented thought, or an irregular, envious
desire, is a breach of that spiritual precept, which made St. jPaul say,
" I had not known lust," or a wrong desire, " to be sin, except the law
had said. Thou shalt not covet," Rom. vii, 7.
Such being the extreme spirituality of the law, who can plead that he
never was guilty of breaking one, or even all of the ten commandments ?
And if we have broken them all, either in their literal or spiritual mean-
ing, and are threatened for every transgression with a curse suitable to
the Lawgiver's infinite Majesty, who can conceive the greatness of our
guilt and danger ? Till we find a sanctuary under the shadow of a Sa-
viour's wings, are we not as liable to the strokes of Divine vengeance,
as a felon, guilty of breaking all the statutes of his country, is liable to
the penalty of human laws t
If this is not the case, there is no justice in the court of heaven, and
the laws given with so much terror from the Almighty's throne, like the
statutes of children, or the pope's bulls, are only brtUa fulmina, words
without effect, and thunders without lightnings.
Some indeed flatter themselves that " the law, since the Gospel dis-
pensation, abates much of its demands of perfect love." But their hope
is equally unsupported by reason and Scripture. The law is the eternal
rule of right, the moral picture of the God of holiness and love. It can
no more vary, than its eternal, unchangeable original. The Lord " will
not alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth," He must cease to
320 AX ArPEAl. TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
be what ]ic is, before his law can lose its power to bind either men
or angels ; and all creatures shall break, sooner than it shall bend ; for
if it commands us only to " love God with all our heart, and our neigh-
bour as ourselves," what just abatement can be made in so equitable a
precept? Therefore man, who breaks the righteous law of God as
naturally as he breathes, is, and must continue, under its fearful curse,
till he has secured the pardon and help offered him in the Gospel.
THIRTY-THIKD ARGUMENT.
Nor is the Gospel itself without its threatenings ; for if the Lord, on
the one hand, " opens the kingdom of heaven to all believers ;" he
declares, on the other, that " they shall all be damned who believe not
the truth," when it is proposed to them with sufficient evidence ; and
that " he who believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God," 2 Thess. ii, 12 ;
John iii, 18, From these awful declarations, I draw the following
argument : —
If faith is so essential a virtue, how^ depraved and wretched is man,
who is 90 excessively " slow of heart to believe" the things that conceni his
salvation ! Matter of fact daily proves that we readily admit the evi-
dence of men, while we peremptorily reject the testimony of God.
Commodore Byron's extraordinary account of the giants in Patagonia
is, or was, eveiy where received : but that of Jesus Christ, concerning
those who " walk in the broad way to destruction" is, and has always
been, too generally disregarded, Matt, vii, 13.
On reading in a newspaper an anonymous letter from Naples, we
believe that rivers of liquid fire flow from the convulsed bowels of a
mountain, and form burning lakes in the adjacent plains : but if we read
in the Scripture that Tophet, the burning lake, " is pi-epared of old" for
the impenitent, we beg leave to withhold our assent ; and unless Divine
grace prevents, we must fall in, and feel, before we assent and beheve,
Isaiah xxx, 33.
Who that has seen a map of Africa, ever doubted whether there is
such a kingdom as that of Morocco, though he never saw it, or any of
its natives? But who that has perused the Gospel, never doubted,
whether the " kingdom of heaven within us," or that state of " right-
eousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," which God opens to
believers upon earth, is not a mere imagination ? though Christ himself
invites us to it, and many pious persons not only testify they enjoy it,
but actually show its blessed fruits, in heavenly tempers, a blameless
life, a triumphant death, Mark i, 14 ; Luke xvii, 21 ; Rom. xiv, 17 ;
Rev. i, 6.
With what readiness do Ave depend upon an honest man's promise,
especially if it is reduced into a bond ! But with what reluctance do we
rely on the " many great and precious promises" of God, conjirmed by an
oath, delivered before the most unexceptionable witnesses, and sealed
with the blood of Jesus Christ ! 2 Peter i, 4 ; 2 Cor. i, 20 ; Heb. vi, 17,
And ye numerous tribe of patients, how do ye shame those who call
themselves Christians ! So entire is the tnist A\hich you repose upon a
physician's advice, whom perhaps you have seen but once, that you
immediately abstain from your pleasant food, and regularly taJke medi<
FOrRTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 327
cines, which, for what you know, may oe as injurioas to your stomach
as they are offensive to your palate. But we who profess Christianity
generally quarrel with Christ's prescriptions ; and it" we do not under-
stand the nature of a remedy which he recommends, we think this is a
sufficient reason for i-efusing it. From Christ only, if we can help it,
we will take nothing upon trust.
One false witness is often sufficient to make us beUevc that a neigh-
hour vows to do us an injury ; but twenty ministers of Jesus cannot per-
suade us, God " hath sworn in his wrath," that if we die in our sins,
" we shall not enter into his rest," Psalm xcv, 11, or that if we " come
to him" for pardon and life, " he will in no wise cast us out," John vi,
37. The most defamatory and improbable reports spread witli uncom-
mon swiftness, and pass for matter of fact ; but when St. Paul testifies,
that " if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,"
Rom. viii, 9, who believes his testimony ? Does not the same mind
that was open to scandalous lies, prove shut against such a revealed
truth ?
Isaiah asks, " Who hath believed our report ?" And Jesus says, " When
the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth ?" Alas !
there would have been no room for these plaintive questions, if the word
of God had not been proposed to our faith ; for the most groundless and
absurd assertions of men find multitudes of believers. We see daily
that an idle rumour about a peace or a war meets with such credit as to
raise or smk the stocks in a few hours.
It is evident that man hath a foolish and "evil heart of unbelief,"
ready to " strain at a gnat" in Divine revelation, while he greedily
" swallows up the camel" of human imposture. Now if it is part of
the Gospel which Christ commands his ministers to " preach to every
creature," that " he who believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi, 16,
how gi-eat is the depravity-, and how imminent the danger of fallen man,
who has such a strong propensity to so destructive, so damnable a sin as
unbelief!
TIIIRTy- FOURTH ARGUMENT.
But let us come still nearer to the point. If we are not " by nature
conceived in sin," and " children of wrath," millions of infants who die
without actual sin, have no need of the blood of Christ to wash their
robes, nor his Spirit to purify their hearts. The incarnation of the
eternal Word, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, are as mmecessary
to them as the visits of a physician, and his remedies, to persons in per-
fect health. Their spotless innocency is a sufficient passport for heaven :
baptism is ridiculous, and the Christian religion absui-d in their case.
Nor does it appear, why it might not be as absurd with regard to the
rest of mankind, cUd they but act their part a little better : for if wo are
naturally innocent, we have a natural power to remain so ; and by a
proper use of it, we may avoid standing in need of the salvation pro-
cured by Christ for the lost.
Nay, if iimocent nature, carefully improved, may be the way to eternal
life, it is certainly the readiest way ; and the Son of God speaks like the
grand decei\'er of mankind, when he says, " I am the way ; 710 man
cometh unto the Father, l)ut h/ we." Christians, let self-conceited
828 AN ArPEAI- TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
Deists entertain the thought, but liarbour it not a moment : in you it
would be highly blasphemous.
THIRTY-FIFTH ARGUMENT.
And that you may detest it the more, consider farther, that all the
capital doctrines of Christianity are built upon that fundamental article
of our depravity and danger. If all flesh hath not con-upted its way,
how severe are those words of Christ, " Except ye repent, ye shall all
perish :" and " except ye be converted, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven !" If all are not carnal and earthly by their first birth, how
absurd is what he said to Nicodemus, " Except a man be bom again, he
cannot see the kingdom of heaven !" If there is any spiritual health in
us by nature, how notoriously false are these assertions ! " All our
sufficiency is of God :" " Without me ye can do nothing." If eveiy
natural man is not the reverse of that holiness in which Adam was
created, how irrational these and the like scriptures, " If any man is in
Christ, he is a new creature." " In Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature /" To con-
elude : if mankind are not universally corrupt, guilty, and condemned,
how unnecessarily alarming is this declaration, " He that believeth not
on the Son of God, is condemned already : the wrath of God abideth on
him !" and if we are not foolish, unrighteous, unholy, and enslaved to
sin, why is " Christ made to us of God wisdom, righteousness, sancti-
fication, and redemption ?"
Take away then the doctrine of the fall, and the tower of evangelical
truth, built by Jesus Christ, is no more founded on a rock, but upon the
sand ; or rather, the stately fabric is instantly thrown dovm, and leaves
no ruins behind it, but the dry morality of Epictetus, covered with the
rubbish of the wildest metaphors, and buried in the most impertinent
ceremonies.
THIRTY-SIXTH ARGTOIENT.
One more absurdity still remains. If man is not in the most immi-
nent danger of destruction, nothing can be more extravagant than the
great article of the Christian faith, thus expressed in the Nicene creed :
" Jesus Christ, very God of very God, by whom all things were made ;
who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, was
made man, and was crucified ^br us."
Is it not astonishing that there should be people so infatuated as to
join every Lord's day in this solemn confession, and to deny the other
six, the horrible danger to which they are exposed, till they have an
interest in Christ ? Is not the least grain of common sense sufficient to
make an attentive person see, that if He, " by whom all things were
made, came from heaven for our salvation," if he "was made man"
that he might suffer and be " crucified for us ;" he saw us guilty, con-
demned, lost, and obnoxious to the damnaiion, which we continually
deprecate in the litany ? Shall we charge the Son of God, in " whom
are hid all the treasures of Divine wisdom," with the unparalleled folly
of coming from heaven to atone for innocent creatures, to reprieve per-
sons uncondemned, to redeem a race of free men, to deliver from the
curse a people not accursed ; to hang by exquisitely dolorous wounds,
FOURTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 329
made in his sacred hands and feet, on a tree more ignominious than the
gallows, for honest men and very good sort of people ; and to expire under
the sense of the wrath of Heaven, that he might save from hell people in
no danger of going there ?
Reader, is it possible to entertain for a moment these wild notions
without offering the utmost indignity to the Son of God, and the greatest
violence to common sense ? And does not reason cry, as with the sound
of a thousand trumpets, " If our Creator could not save us consistently
with his glorious attributes, but by becoming incarnate, passing through
the deepest scenes of humiliation and temptation, distress and want, for
thirty-three years ; and undergoing at last the most shameful, painful,
and accursed death in our place ; our wickedness must be desperate,
our sins execrable, our guilt black as the shadow of death, and our dan-
ger dreadful as the gloom and torments of hell?"
"Shocking doctrine!" says the self- conceited moralist, as he rises
from his chair full of indignation, and ready to throw aside the argu-
ments he caimot answer. Reader, if you are the man, remember that
tliis is an appeal to reason, and not to passion ; to matter of fact, and not
to your vitiated taste for pleasing error. You may cry out at the sight
of a shroud, a coffin, a grave, " Shoclcing objects /" but your loudest
exclamations will not lessen the awful reality, by which many have
happily been shocked into a timely consideration of, and preparation for,
approaching death.
*' But this doctrine," you still urge, " drives people to despair." Yes,
to a despair of being saved by their own merits and righteousness ; and
this is as reasonable in a sinner who comes to the Saviour, as despairing
to swim across the sea is rational in a passenger that takes ship. Our
Church, far from speaking against it, says that " sinners should be dis-
mayed at God's rightful justice, and should despair indeed as touching
any hope that may be in themselves." {Homily on Falling from God :
part ii.)
A just despair of ourselves is widely different from a despair of God's
mercy, and Christ's willingness to save the chief of sinners, who fly to
him for refuge. This horrible sin, this black crime of Judas, springs
rather from a sullen, obstinate rejection of the remedy, than, as some
vainly suppose, from a clear knowledge of the disease : and that none
may commit it, Christ's ministers take particular care not to preach the
law without the Gospel, and the fall without the recovery. No sooner
have they opened the wound of sin, festering in the sinner's conscience,
than they pour in the balm of Divine promises, and make gracious
offers of a free pardon, and full salvation, by the compassionate Re-
deemer, who came to "justify the ungodly," and to " save the lost."
And indeed those only who see their sin and misery will cordially
embrace the Gospel ; for common sense dictates that none care for the
king's mercy but those who know they are guilty, condemned criminals.
How excessively unreasonable is it then to object, that the preaching of
man's corrupt and lost estate drives people to despair of Divine mercy,
when it is absolutely the only means of showing them their need of it,
and making them gladly accept it upon God's own terms !
Leaving therefore that trite objection to the unthinking vulgar, once
iiiore, judicious reader, summon all your rational powers : and, after
330 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PART
imploring help from on 'high to use them aright, say, whether these last
arguments do not prove that no Christian can deny the complete fall of
mankind, witliout renouncmg the capital doctrines of his own rehgion ;
overturning the very foundation of the Gospel, which he professes to
receive ; staining the glory of the Redeemer, whom he pretends to
honour ; and impiously taking from his crown, wisdom, truth, and chariiy,
the three jewels that are its brightest ornaments. Sum up then all that
has been advancetl concerning the afflictive dealings of God's providence
with mankind, and the base conduct, or wicked temper of mankind
toward God, one another, and themselves. Declare, if all the arguments
laid before you, and cleared from the thickest clouds of objections that
might obscure them, do not cast more light upon the black subject of
our depravity than is sufficient to show that it is a melancholy truth.
And finallv pronounce, whether the doctrine of our corrupt and lost
estate, stated in the words of the sacred writers, and of our pious re-
formers, is not rationalJij demonstrated, and established upon the firmest
basis in tlie world, matter of fact, and the dictates o{ common sense.
PART V.
Whe>' a doctrine has been clearly demonstrated, the truths thB.t Tieces-
sarily spring from it cannot reasonably be rejected. Let then common
sense decide whether the following consequences do not necessarily
result from the doctrine of the fall, established in the preceding parts of
this treatise.
I. Inference. If we are by nature in a corrupt and lost estate, the
grand business of ministers is to rouse our di'owsy consciences, and
warn us of our imminent danger : it behoo\'es them to " cry aloud and
spare not, to lift up their voice like a tnampet," and " show us our trans-
gressions and our sins :" nor are they to desist from this unpleasmg part
of their office till we " awake to righteousness," and " lay hold on the
hope set before us."
If preachers, under pretence of peace and good natiu'e, let the wound
fester in the conscience of their hearers, to avoid the thankless office of
probing it to the bottom : if, for fear of giving them pain by a timely
amputation, they let them die of a mortification: or if "they heal the
hvu't of the daughter of God's people shghtl)', saying. Peace ! Peace !
when there is no peace ;" they imitate those sycophants of old, who, for
fear of displeasing the rich and ofTemUng the great, " preached smooth
things and prophesied deceit."
This cruel gentleness, this soft barbarity, is attended w ith the most
pernicious consequences, and w^ill deservedly meet with the most dread-
ful punishment. " Give sinners warning from me," says the Lord to
every minister : " When I say to the wicked," the unconverted, '•' Tliou
shalt surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, he shall die in his
iniquity," in his unconverted state ; " but his blood will I require at thy
hand." See Malt, xviii, 3; Ezek. iii, 18, and xiii, 10.
II. Inference. If we are naturolly depraved and condemned crea-
tures, self righteousness and lyride are the most absurd and monstrous of
all our sins. The deepest repentance and profoundest humility become
FTFTir.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 331
US : to neglect them is to ."tumble at tlie very thresliold of true religion j
and to ridicuJc them is to pour contempt u{)on reason, revelation, and the
first operations of Divine grace upon a sinner's heart.
in. IxFEREXCE. If the corruption of mankind is universal, inveterate,
and amazingly powerful, no mere creature can deliver them from it.
They must remain unrestored; or they must have an almighty, om-
niscient, omnipresent, unwearied, infi*iitely patient Saviour ; willing, day
and night, to attend to the wants and public or secret applications of
millions of wretched souls ; and able to give them immediate assistance
throughout the world, in all their various trials, temptations, and con-
flicts, both in life and in death. Is the most exalted creature sufficient
for these things ?
When such a vast body as mankind, spread over all the earth for
thousands of years, made up of numerous nations, all of which consist
of multitudes of individuals, each of whom has the springs of all hia
faculties and powers enfc-ebled, disordered, or broken : — when such an
immense body as this is to be restored to the image of the infinitely holy,
glorious, and blessed God ; common sense dictates that the amazing task
can be performed by no other than the original Artist, the great Searcher
of hearts, the omnipotent Creator of mankind.
Hence it appears that, notwithstanding the cavils of Arius, the Saviour
is " God over all, blessed for ever ; all things were made by liim, he
upholds all things by the word of his power ;" and every believer may
adore him and say, with the wondering apostle, when the light of faith
shone into his benighted soul, " My Lord and my God!"
IV. IxFEREKCE. If our guilt is immense, it cannot be expiated with-
out a sacrifice of an infinite dignity : hence we discover the mistake of
heathens and caiTial Jews, who trusted in the sacrifices of beasts ; the
error of Deists, Mohammedans, and Socinians, who see no need of any
expiatory' sacrifice ; and the amazing presumption of too many Chris-
tians, who repose a considerable part of their confidence in the proper
merit of their works ; instead of placing it entirely in the infinitely
meritorious sacrifice of the immaculate Lamb of God, humbly acknow-
ledging that all the gracious rewardableness of the best works of faith is
derived from his precious blood and original merit.
V. Inference. If our spiritual maladies are both numerous and
mortal, it is evident we cannot recover the spiritual health that we en-
joyed in our first parents, but by the powerful help of our heavenly
Physician, the second Adam. How absurd is it then to say that we are
saved or recovered by doing good works, without the quickening grace
of a Saviour !
A wretched beggar is lame both in his hands and feet ; an officious
man, instead of taking him to a person famous for his skill in I'elieving
such objects of distress, assures him that the only way of getting well is
to run on errands for his prince, and work for his fellow beggars. You
justly wonder at the cruelty and folly of such a director ; but you have
much more reason to be astonished at the conduct of those miserable
empirics, who direct poor, blind, lame sinners, labouring under a com-
phcation of spiritual disorders, and sick even unto eternal death, to save
themselves merely by serving God and doing good to their neighbours;
aa if they needed neither repentance toward God, nor faith in our Lord
332 a:^ appeal to matter or fact. [part
Jesus Christ, nor yet free grace, to enable them to repent, believe, and
serve God acceptably.
How much more rational is the evangelical method of salvation!
"We are saved," says the apostle, we are restored to saving health,
and a spiritual activity to serve God and our neighbour, " not by works,
not of ourselves ;" but " by grace," by mere favour ; " through faith,"
through such an entire confidence in our Physician as makes us gladly
take his powerful remedies, abstain from the pleasing poison of sin, and
feed on those Divine truths which communicate angehcal vigour and
happiness to our souls, Eph. ii, 8.
VI. Inference. If our nature is so completely fallen and totally
helpless, that in spiritual things " we are not sufficient of ourselves to
think any thing" truly good " as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of
God ;" it is plain we stand in absolute need of his Spirit's assistance to
enable us to pray, repent, believe, love, and obey aright. Consequently,
those who ridicule the Holy Spirit, and his sacred influence, despise the
great " Helper of our infimiities," and act a most irrational, wicked,
and desperate part, Rom. viii, 26.
VII. Inference. If by nature we are realJy and tritly bom in sin,
our regeneration cannot be a mere metaphor or a vain ceremony ; our
spiritual birth must be real and positive. How fatal therefore is the
mistake of those who suppose that the new birth is only a figurative
expression for a decent behaviour! Hoav dreadful the error of those
who imagine that all whose faces have been typically washed with the
material water in baptism are now efiectually " born again of" living
" water and the" Holy " Spirit !" And how inexcusable the case of the
multitudes, who, in the Church of England, are under this dangerous
mistake, so prudently guarded against by our pious reformers !
In our catechism they clearly distinguish between " the outward
visible sign" or form in baptism, and " the inward spiritual grace :" and
by defining the latter, " a death unto sin and a ne\? birth unto righteous-
ness," they declare that whosoever is not " dead" or dying " to sin," and
" alive to righteousness," is not truly regenerate, and has nothing of
baptism but the " outward and visible sign." In the twenty-seventh of
our articles they mention, that " baptism is not the new birth, but a sign
of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they who
receive baptism rightly, are grafted into the Church." And if our
Church returns thanks for the regeneration of the infants whom she has
admitted to baptism, it is chiefly* upon a charitable supposition, that
" they have received it rightly," and will, " for their part, faithfully per-
fonn their promises, made for them by their sureties." If they refuse
to do it whe7i tJiey come of age, far from treating them as her regenerate
children, she denounces a general excommunication against them, and
charges them " not to come to" her " holy table, lest Satan brings them,
as" he did "Judas, to destruction both of body and soul."
* I say chiejly, because our Church gives thanks also for Christ's general grace
and mercy to children, declaring herself "persuaded of the good will of our
heavenly Father toward this (unbaptized) infant," through Christ, who said, that
"of little children is the kingdom of heaven." The truth lies between the error
of the Pelagians, who suppose that unbaptized infants are sinless like angeU ; and
that of the Papists, who afiirm that they are graceless as devils.
FIFTH.] AN AFFBAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 333
VIII. Inference. If the fall of mankind in Adam does not consist
in a capricious imputation of his personal guilt, but in a real, present
participation of his depravity, impotence, and misery ; the salvation that
believers have in Christ is not a capricious imputation of his personal
righteousness, but a real, present participation of his purity, power, and
blessedness, together with pardon and acceptance.
Unspeakably dangerous then is the delusion of those whose brains
and mouths are filled with the notions and expressions of " imputed
righteousness ;" while their poor, caiTial, unregenerate hearts remain
perfect strangers to " the Lord our righteousness."
IX. Inference. If the corrupt nature which sinners derive from
Adam spontaneously produces all the wickedness that overspreads the
earth ; (he holy nature which believers receive from Christ, is also
spontaneously productive of all the fruits of righteousness described in
the oracles of God ; " Good works springing out, iiecessarily* of a true
and lively faith," Art. xii.
Such ministers, therefore, as clearly preach our fall in Adam, and
that faith in Christ which is productive of genuine holiness and active
love, will infallibly promote good works and pure morality : when those
who insist only upon works and moral duties will neither be zealous of
good works themselves, nor instrumental in turning sinners from their
gross immoralities. The reason is obvious : evangelical preachers follow
their Lord's wise direction : " Make the tree good, and the fruit shall be
good also :" but moralists will have " corrupt trees bring forth good
fruit," which, in the nature of things, is impossible, Matt, xii, 33 ;
Luke vi, 43. Therefore, as nothing but faith " makes the tree good,"
and as " without faith it is impossible to please God ;" the Christian,
that will " come to him" with good works, " must" not only " believe
[as heathens] that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him ;" but also that " he was in Christ reconciling the world unto
himself," &;c.
X. Inference. If corruption and sin work so powerfully and sensibly
in the hearts of the unregenerate, we may, without deserving the name
of enthusiasts, affirm, that the regenerate are sensible of the powerful
effects of Divine grace in their soula ; or, to use the words of our
seventeenth article, we may say, " They feel in themselves the work-
ings of the Spirit of Christ :" for " where" the poison of " sin hath
abounded," and has been of course abundantly felt ; " grace," the
powerful antidote that expels It, does " much more abound," and con-,
sequently may be much more perceived.
Therefore " the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins,"
the assurance of faith, and " the peace of God passing all understand-
ing," are the experienced blessings of the converted, as certainly as
a guilty conscience, the gnawing of worldly cares, the working of evil
tempers, the tumults of unbridled appetites, and the uproars of rebellious
passions, are the experienced curses of the unconverted.
Reader, if these inferences are justly drawn, is it not evident that the
prmciplesf are generally exploded among us as enthusiastical or Method*
* This is to be understood of a moral, and not of an absolute irresistible necos-
Bity ; for faith never unmans the believer.
t Those doctrines pointed out in the ten above mentioned inferences, ara
334 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PAKT
istical, which flow from the doctrine demonstrated in this treatise, as
naturally as light from the sun ? These consequences lead you perhaps
farther than you could wish ; hut let them not make you either afraid or
ashamed of the Gospel. ^ Prejudices, like clouds, will vanish awaV; but
truth, which they obscure for a time, like the sun, will shme for ever. A
great man in the law said, Fiat juslUia, ruat mundm. Improve the noble
sentiment, and say with equal fortitude, "<S7d Veritas, ruat mundus: let
truth stand, though the universe should sinli into ruins."
But, happily for us, the danger is all on the side of the opposite
doctrine ; and that you may be convinced of it, I present you next with
a view of the
DREADFUL OONSEaUENCES
Necessarily resulting from the ignorance of ovr depravity and danger.
1 . As the tempter caused the fall of our first parents, by inducing
them to believe that they " should not surely die," if they broke the
Divine law : so, now we are fallen, he prevents our recovering, by sug-
gesting " the bitterness of death is past," and " we are in a state of
safety." Hence it is that you sleep on in carnal security, O ye deluded
sons of men, and even dream ye are safe and righteous. Nor can ye
escape for jour lives till the veil of unbelief is taken away, and ye
awake to a sight of your corrupt and lost estate ; for there is no guard-
ing against, nor fl} ing from, an unseen, unsuspected evil : here, as in a
conspiracy, the danger continually increases till it is happily discovered.
2. If we are not sensible of our natural corruption and the justice of
the curse entailed upon us on that account, can we help thinking God
a tyrant, m hen he threatens unconverted moraUsts with the severest of
his judgments, or causes the black storms of his providence to overtake
us and our dearest relatives ?
Answer, ye self-righteous Pharisees, that so bitterly exclaim against
the ministers, who declare, by the authority of Scripture, that " except
ye repent, ye shall all perish." Answer, fond mother, whase tears of
distraction mix with the cold sweat of the convulsed, dying infant on thy
lap. Dost thou not secretly impeach Divine justice, and accuse Heaven
of barbarity? Ah ! if thou didst but know the evil nature which thou
and thy Isaac have brought into the world ; if thou sawest the root of
bitterness which the hand of a gracious Providence even now extracts
from his heart ; far from being ready to " curse God, and die" with thy
child, thou wouldest patiently acquiesce in the kindly severe dispensa-
tion ; thou wouldest " clear him when he is judged" by such as thyself,
and even " glorify him in the evil day of this painful visitation."
3. Though man's heart is hardened as steel, it does not frequently
emit the helhsh sparks of such murmurings against God, because it can
seldom be struck by the flint of such severe afflictions ; yet the mischief
is there, and will break out, if not by hlasphemous despair, at least by its
contrary, presumptuous madness. Yes, reader, unless thou art happily
1. The alarming severity of the law ; 2. The need of a deep, heartfelt repentance ;
3. The divinity of Christ ; 4. The infinite merit of his sacrifice ; 5. Salvation by
faith in him; 6. The influences of his Holy Spirit; 7. The reality of tlio new
birth ; 8. The necessity of a present salvation ; 9. The zeal of believers for good
works; and 10. The comfortable assurance which they have of their regeneration,
FIFTH.] AX APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. 335
made acquainted with the strength of thy inhred depravity, thou wilt
rashly venture among the sparks of temptation : witli carnal contidence
thou wilt ask, " What harm can they do me ?" And thou wilt continue
the hazardous sport till sin and wrath consume thee together. Nor
will this be more surprising than that one, who carries a bag of gun-
powder, and knows not the dangerous nature of his load, should
fearlessly rush through the midst of flames or sparks, till he is blown
up and destroyed.
4. This fatal rashness is generally accompanied with a glaring incon-
sistency. Do not you make the assertion good, ye saints of the present
age, who pretend to have Ibund the .secret of loving both God and the
world ? Do not we hear you deny to men that you are condemned, and
yet cry to God to have mercy upon you ? But if you are not condemned,
what need have you of mercy? And if you are, why do you deny your
lost estate ? Thou too, reader, wilt fall into this absurdity, unless
thou knowest thy just condemnation. But the mischief will not stop
here ; for,
5. Ignorance of the mystery of huquity within you must, in the
nature of things, cause you to neglect prayer, or to pray out of cha-
racter. As unhumbled moralists, instead of approaching the throne of
grace with the self abasement of the penitent pubhcan, saying, " God
be merciful unto me a sinner !" you will provoke the Most High, by the
open profaneness of the Sadducee ; or insult him by the self-conceited
services of the Pharisee, boasting ye " do no hann," and thanking God,
ye " are not as other men." On these rocks your formal devotion will
spUt, till you know, that as the impenitent and prayerless shall perish,
so the Lord accepts no penitential prayer, but that of " the man who
knows the plague of his ow n heart ; because he alone prays in liis own
character, and without hypocrisy," 1 Pet. v, 5 ; 1 Kings viii, 31.
6. And as you camiot approach the throne of grace aright, while you
remain insensible of your corruption ; so the reading or preaching of
God's word, till it answers the end of conviction, is of no service to you,
but rather proves, to use St. Paul's nervous expression, the " savour of
death unto death." For when the terrors of the law only suit your
case, you vainly catch at the comforts of the Gospel ; or rather you
remain as unaffected under the threatenings of the one as under the
promises of the other : you look on Mount Sinai and Mount Sion with
equal indifference, and the warmth of the preacher, who invites you to
"• fly from the wrath to come," appears to you an instance of religious
madness. Nor is it a wonder it should, while you continue unacquainted
with your danger : when a mortal disease is neither felt nor suspected,
a pathetic address upon its consequences and cure must be received by
any reasonable man with the greatest unconcern ; and the person that
makes it in earnest, must appear exceedingly ridiculous. Again :
7. " My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," says the Lord.
This is true, particula rly with regard to the knowledge of our depravity.
Reader, if thou remainest a stranger to it, thou w ilt look upon slight con-
fessions of outward sins as true repentance ; and the "godly sorrow that
worketh repentance to salvation" will api)ear to thee a symptom of
melancholy. Taking an external reformation of manners, or a change
of ceremonies and opinions, for true conversion, thou wilt think thyself
336 AN APPEAL TO MATTKK OF FACT. tPART
in a safe state, while thy heart continues habitually wandering from God,
and under the dominion of a worldly spirit. In a word, some of the
branches of the tree of corruption thou mayest possibly lop off, but the
root will still remain and gather sti-ength. For it is plain, that a bad
root, supposed not to exist, can neither be heartily lamented, nor earn-
estly struck at with the axe of self denial.
Even a heathen could say,* " The knowledge of sin is the first step
toward salvation from it ; for he who knows not that he sins, will not
submit to be set right : thou must find out what thou art before thou
canst mend thyself: — ^therefore, when thou disco ve rest thy vices, to which
thou wast before a stranger, it is a sign that thy soul is in a better state."
8. It is owing to the want of this discovery, O ye pretended sons of
reason, that thinking yourselves born pure, or supposmg the disease of
your nature to be inconsiderable, you imagine it possible to be your own
physicians, when you are only your own destroyers. Hence it is, that
while you give to Jesus the titular honour of Saviour, you speak per-
petually of being " saved merely by your duties and best endeavours."
Hear him warning you against this common delusion : " O Israel," says
he, " thou hast destroyed thyself, but in ?«e is thy help found. The
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," beyond all hope of
recovering themselves.
9. The prescriptions of this wise Physician are excessively severe to
flesh and blood, and some of his remedies as violent as our disease.
Therefore, except we see the greatness of our danger, we shall beg to
be excused from taking the bitter potion. Who can have resolution
enough to " cut off" a right hand, to pluck out a right eye," to " take
up his cross daily, to deny himself, and lose even his own life," or what
is often dearer, his fair reputation ? Who, I say, can do this, till a sight
of imminent ruin on the one hand, and of redeeming love on the other,
makes him submit to the painful injunctions ? Thou lovely youth, noted
in the Gospel for thy harmlessness, I appeal to thy wretched experience.
When the Physician of souls, at whose feet thou wast prostrate, com-
manded thee to " sell all and follow him," what made thee " go away
sorrowful" and undone ? Not barely thy " great possessions," but the
ignorance of thy condition : for " all that a man hath will he give for
his life," when he sees it in immediate danger. Matt, xix, 22.
10. If it is a desperate step to turn away from the Prince of Life,
it is a daring one to approach him with a mere compliment. Of this,
nevertheless, you are guilty, ye unawakened sinners, who daily appear
before the throne of grace with thanks and praises to God, " for his
inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus
Christ." Alas ! When you deny the state of sin and misery in which
you are by nature, and yet presume to thank God for redemption from it,
do you not mock him as solemnly as you would the king, were you to
present him every day an address of thanks for redeeming you from
Turkish slavery, when you never knew yourselves slaves in Turkey ? O
how provoking to God must these unmeaning thanksgivings be ! Surely
* Initium est salutis nolitia peccati ; nam qui pcccaro se nescit, corrigi non
vult ; deprehendas te oportet antequam cmendes, Sen. Ep. xxviii. Et hoc ipsum
argumontum est in melius translati animi, quod vitia sua, quae adhuc ignorabal,
videt, Ep. iv.
FIFTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTER OK FACT. SS't
one day they will be ranked among the indignities offered by earthly
worms to the Majesty on high.
11. Some, indeed, more consistent than you, openly throw off the
mask. Seeing neither the untathomable depth of their misery by the
fall, nor the immense height of their aggravated iniquities, they do not
trifle w:ith, but at once " deny, the Lord that bought them." Yes, far
from admiring the established method of a salvation, procured at so im-
mense a price as the incarnation and the crucitixion of the Son of God,
they are not afraid to intimate it is irrational : and upon their principles
they may well do it ; for if our ruin is not immense, what need is there
for an immensely glorious Redeemer ? And if our guilt reaches not up
to heaven, why should the Son of God have come down from thence to
" put away sin by the sacrifice of himself?"
12. As we slight or reject the Saviour, till we are truly convinced of
the evil and danger of sin ; so we worship a false god, a mere idol.
For, instead of adoring Jehovah, infinite in his holiness and hatred of
sin ; inviolable in the truth of his threatenings against it, and impartial
in his strict justice ; a God in whose presence unhumbled sinners " are
not able to stand," and "with whom evil cannot dwell ;" we bow to a
"strange god," whom pious men never knew, a god formed by our own
fancy — so unholy as to connive at sin, so unjust as to set aside his most
righteous law, and so false as to break his most solemn word, that we
must "turn or die/" Ezek. xxxiii, 11. Is not this worshipping a god of
our own making ; or, as David describes him, a " god altogether such
as ourselves ?" To adore an idol of paste, made by the baker and the
priest, may be indeed more foolish, but cannot be more wicked than to
adore one made by our wild imagination, and impious unbelief.
13. We may go one step farther still, and affirm that till we are deeply
convinced of sin, far from worshipping the true God, (which implies know-
ing, loving, and admiring him in all his perfections,) we hate and oppose
him in his infinite holiness and justice. The proof is obvious : — Two
things diametrically opposite in their nature, can never be approved of
at once. If we do not side with Divuie holiness and justice, abhor our
conniption, and condenui ourselves as hell-deservhig sumers ; far from
approving, we shall arise against the holy and righteous God, who sen-
tences us to eternal death for our sin : we shall at least wish he were
less pure and just than he is, which amounts to wishing him to be no
God. While proud fiends betray this horrid disposition by loud blas-
phemies in hell, ye do it, O ye unconvinced sons of men, by your aver-
sion to godliness upon earth. " Haters of God," is then the proper
name, and " enmitj' against him," the settled temper of all unhumbled,
unconverted sinners, Rom. i, 30, and viii, 7.
14. When the nature of God is mistaken, what wonder if his law is
misapprehended ? " The law is good," says St. Paul, " if a man use it
lawfully ;" but if we make an improper use of it, the consequence is
fatal. Since the iall, the law of God, as contra-disluiguished from the
Gospel of Christ, points out to us the spotless holiness, and inflexible
justice, of its Divine Author. It teaches us with what ardour end con-
stancy we should love both oiu" Creator and our fellow creatures. As
a bank cast against the siream of our iniquity, it accidentally serves to
make it rise the higher, and to discover ils impetuosity ; for " by the lav/
Vol. 111. 22
338 AN APPEAIi TO MATTKU OF FACT. [PART
IS the knowledge of sin." It demonstrates man's weakness, who " con-
sents indeed to the law that it is good, but finds not how to fulfil it,"
Rom. vii, 16, 19. As a battery erected against pride, when it has its
due effect, it silences all our self-righteous pleas, and convinces us that
a returning sinner " is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Christ." A broken law, a law which " worketh wrath," being
absolutely unable to absolve its violater. In a word, " it is our school
master to bring us to Christ," and drives us with the rod of threatened
punishments, to make us touch the sceptre of mercy, held out to us fi-om
the throne of grace.
But while we remain strangers to our helpless and hopeless state by
nature, far from making this proper use of the law, we trust in it, and
fancy that the merit of our unsprinkled obedience to it is the way of
salvation. Thus we " go about to establish our own righteousness,
making light of" the atoning blood, which marks " the new and living"
way to heaven. This very mistake ruined the Pharisees of old, and
destroys their numerous followers in all ages, Rom. ix, 31.
15. And when we form such wrong apprehensions of the law, is it
possible that we should have right views of the Gospel, and receive it
with cordial affection ? Reason and experience answer m the negative.
What says the Gospel to sinners ? " You ai'e saved hy grace,^^ through
mere favour and mercy, " not" by the covenant " of works, lest any man
should boast" like the Pharisee, Eph. ii, 8. Now ye decent formalists,
ye fond admirers of your own virtue, are you not utterly disquahfied to
seek and accept a pardon in a Gospel way 1 For your seeking it upon
the footing of mere mercy, implies an acknowledgment that you deserve
the ruin threatened against sinners. And suppose a pardon was granted
you, before you had a consciousness of your sad deserts, you could not
receive it as an act of mere grace, but only as a reward justly bestowed
upon you for the merit of your works. It is plain, then, that according
to the Gospel plan, none can be fit subjects of salvation, but those who
are truly sensible of their condemnation.
16. But as the grace of God in Christ is the original and properly
meritorious cause of our salvation, so the grand instrumental cause of it
is faith on our part. " Through faith are ye saved," says St. Paul.
Now, if to have faith in Christ, is habitually to hft up our hearts to him,
with an humble and yet cheerful confidence, seeking in him all our
" wisdom, righteousness," and " strength," as being our instructing
" Prophet," atoning " Priest," and protecting " King ;" it is evident, that
till we awake to a sight of our fallen state, we cannot believe, nor con-
sequently be saved. O ye that never were sensible of your spiritual
blindness, can you with sincerity take Jesus for your g\iide, emd desire
his " Spirit to lead you into all truth ?" Does not David's prayer, " Open
thou mine eyes, that I may see the wonderful things of thy law," appear
to you needless, if not fanatical ? And is not the Redeemer's propJietic
office thrown away upon such sons of wisdom as you are '.'
Have you a greater value for Jesus than they, O ye just men, who
have 710 sensible need of heart-felt repentance, and whose breasts were
never dilated by one sigh, under a due sense of your guilt and condem-
nation ? Can you, without iiypocrisy, apply to him as the High Priest
of the guilty, claim him as the Advocate of the condemned, or fly to him
FIFTH.] AN APPEAL TO MATTKK OF FACT. 339
as the Saviour o( the lost? Impossible! Ye fondly hope ye never were lost,
ye were always " good livers, good believers, good Churchmen ;" ye " need
not make so much ado" about an interest hi the blood of the new covenant.
And ye who, flushed with the conceit of your native strength, wonder
at the weakness of those that continually bow at the sceptre of Jesus'
grace for protection and power ; can you without a smile of pity hear
hull say, " Without me ye can do nothing ?" Is it possible that you
should sincerely implore the exertion of his royal power for victory over
sms which you suppose yourselves able to conquer ; and for the restora-
tion of a nature, with the goodness of which you are already so well
satisfied ? Your reason loudly answers, No : therefore, till you see
yourselves corrupt, impotent creatures, you will openly neglect the
Redeemer, give to your aggravated sins the name of " human frailties,"
and trust to your baffled, and yet boasted endeavours. Self deception !
Art thou not of all impostors the most common and dangerous, because
the least suspected ?
To sum up and close these important remarks : look at those who in
mystic Babylon are not truly sensible of their total fall from God, and
you will see them setting their own reason above the Holy Scriptures,
and their works in competition with the infinitely meritorious sacrifice of
Christ. Inquire into their principles, and you will discover that they
either openly explode as enthusiastical, or slightly receive as unnecessary,
the doctrines of salvation by faith in Christ, and regeneration by the
Spirit of God. Examine their conduct, and you will find they all
"commit sin," and "receive the mark of the beast" secretly "in their
right hand, or" openly "in their foreheads," Rev. xiii, 16. Sort them,
and you will have two bands, the one of skeptics, and the other of for-
malists, who, though at as great " enmity between themselves" as Pilate
and Herod, are like them " made friends together," by jointly " deriding"
and "condemning Jesus" in his living members.
And if with the candle of the Lord you search the Jerusalem of pro-
fessing Christians, you will perceive that the want of a heart-felt, humbling
knowledge of their natural depravity, gives birth to the double mindedness
of hypocrites, and the miscarriages or apostasy of those who once dis-
tinguished themselves in the evangelical race ; you will easily trace back
to the same corrupt source the seemingly opposite errors of the loose
Antinomiaii, and the Pharisaic Legalist, those spiritual thieves by whom
the sincere Christian is perpetually reviled ; and, in short, you will be
convinced, that if you set your eyes upon a man who is not yet deeply
conscious of his corrupt and lost estate, or whose consciousness of it has
worn away, you behold either a trifler in religion, a dead-hearted Phari-
see, a sly hypocrite, a loose Antinomian, a self- conceited formaUst, a
scoffing infidel, or a wretched apostate.
You see, reader, what a train of fatal consequences results from reject-
ing, or not properly receiving, the doctrine demonstrated in these sheets.
And now, that you may cordially embrace it, permit me to enumerate the
UNSPEAKABLE ADVANTAGES
Springing from an affecting knoivledge of our fallen and lost estate.
No sooner is the disease rightly known, than the neglected Jesus, who
is both our gracious physician and powerfiil remedy, is properly valued.
340 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT. [PAKT
and ardently sought. " All that" thus " seek, find ;" and all that find
him, find saving health, eternal lite, and heaven.
Bear your testimony with me, ye children of Abraham and of God,
who see the biightness of a Gospel "day and rejoice." Say, what
made you first wishfully "look to the hills, whence your salvation is
come," and fervently desire to behold the sin-dispelling beams of the
*'Sun of righteousness?" Was it not the deep dismal night of our
fallen nature, which you happily discovered, when, awaking from the
sleep of sin, you first saw the delusive dreams of life as they appear to
the dying ? What was " the Desire of nations" to you, till you felt
yourselves lost simiers ? Alas ! nothing ; perhaps less than nothing ;
an object of disgust or scom. When " the pearl of great price" was
presented to you, did you regard it more than the vilest of brutes an
oriental pearl ? And as if it had not been enough to look at it with
disdain, were not some of you ready to " turn again and rend," atler the
example of snarling animals, those who ati'ectionately made you the
invaluable offer 1 Matt, vii, 6.
But when the storm that shook Mount Sinai overtook your careless
souls, and ye saw yourselves sinking into an abyss of" misery, did ye not
crj' out and say, as the alarmed disciples, with an unknown energy of
desire, " Save, Lord, or we perish V And when, conscious of your lost
estate, ye began to believe that he " came to seek and to save that which
was lost," how dear, how p-ecious was he to you in all his offices !
How glad were you to take guilty, weeping Magdalene's place, and wait
for a pardon at your High Priest's feet ! How importunate m saying
to your King, as the helpless widow, " Lord, avenge me of mine adver-
sary," my " evil heart of unbelief!" How earnest, how unwearied in
your appUcations to your Prophet, for heavenly light and wisdom ! The
incessant prayer of blind Bartimeus was then yours, and so was the
gracfous answer which the Lord returned to him ; you " received" your
spiritu'i:;! "sight." And O! what saw you then? The sacred "book
unsealed ! Your sins blotted out as a cloud ! The glory of God shining
in the face of Jesus Christ ;" and " the kingdom of heaven opened to all
believers !" -*■
Then, aiKi not till tlien, you could say from the heart, " This is a
faithful sa}ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom 1 am chief," 1 Tun. i, 15.
Then you could cry out with his first disci|)les, " Behold wliat manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God," 1 John iii, 1. " We are all the children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus, whom having not seen we love ; in whom, though now we
see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory, receiving the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls," Gal.
iii, 26 ; 1 Pet. i, 8. " We trusted in hun, and are helped ; therefore
our heart danceth for joy, and in our song will we praise him," Psalm
xxviii, 8. " To him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in
his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father ; to hiin be glory and dominion for ever and ever," Rev. i, .5.
And this will be also your tiiumphant song, attentive reader, if, deeply
conscious of your lost estate, you spread your guilt and iniseiy before
Him who " came to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to
FIFTH.] AX APPE.VL TO MATTER OF FACT. 341
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; and
to comfort all that moum, by giving them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy tor mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,"
Isaiah Ixi, 1. " Your sorrow," it is true, "may endure for a night, but
joy will come in the morning, the joy of God's salvation," and the par-
don of your sins. " Having much forgiven," you " will" then " love
much," and afhnire in proportion the riches of Divine wisdom, goodness,
justice, and power, that so graciously contrived, and so wonderfully
executed, the plan of your redemption. You will be favished in expe-
riencing that a condemned sinner can not only escape impending ruin,
but enter into present possession of a spiritual paradise, where peace and
joy blossom together, and whence welcome death will, ere long, translate
your triumphant soul to those unseen, unheard of, inconceivable glories
"which God hath prepared for them that love him," 1 Cor. ii, 9.
Nor will the blossoms of heavenly "peace" and "joy" only diffuse
their Di\ ine fragi-ancy in your soul ; all " the fruits of holiness" will grow
together with them, " to the glor}^- of God," and the profit of mankind.
And thou wilt not be the last, thou fair, thou blushing humility, to bend
all the spreading branches of the " tree of righteousness." No, we
cannot be vain, or despisers of others, when we see that we are all cor-
rupted, dying shoots of the same corrupted, dead stock : we cannot be
self righteous, when we are persuaded that the best fruit which we can
naturally produce is only splendid sin, or vice coloured over with the
specious appearance of virtue. We must lie prostrate in the dust, when
we consider the ignominious cross where our Divine Surety hung, bled,
and died, to ransom oiur guilty souls.
A genuine conviction of our corruption and demerit, thus striking at
the veiy root of our pride, necessarily fiUs our hearts with inexpressible
gratitude for every favour we receive, gives an exquisite relish to the least
blessing we enjoy, and teaches us to say with the thankful patriarch, " I
am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies ;" and as it renders us
gratefld to God, and all our benefactors, so it makes us patient under
the greatest injuries, resigned in the heaviest trials, glad to be reproved,
willing to forgive the faults of others, open to acknowledge our own,
disposed to sympathize with the guilty, tender hearted toward the
miserable, incapable of being oficnded at any one, and ready to do
every ofHce of kindness, even to the meanest of mankmd.
Again : no sooner are we properly acquainted with our helplessness,
than we give over leaning on an arm of flesh, and the broken reed of
our own resolutions. Reposing our entire confidence in the living God,
we fervently implore his continual assistance, carefully avoid temptations,
gladly acknowledge that " the help which is done upon the earth, the
Lord doth it himself," and humbly give him the glory of all the good
that appears in ourselves and others.
Once more : as soon as we can discover our spiritual blindness, we
mistrust our own judgment, feel the need of instruction, modestly repair
to the experienced lor advice, carefully search the Scriptures, readily
follow their blessed directions, and fervently pray that no false light may
mislead us out of the way of salvation.
To conclude : a right knowledge that " the crown has fallen from our
head," will make us alx>minate sin, the cause of our ruin, and raise in
342 AN APPEAL TO MATTER OF FACT.
US a noble ambition of regaining ovn- original state of blissful and glo-
rious righteousness. It will set us upon an earnest inquiry into, and a
proper use of, all the means conducive to our recovery. Even the seme
of our guilt will prove useful, by helping to break our obdurate hearts,
by embittering the baits of worldly vanities, and fillmg our souls with
penitential sorrow. "Before honour is huinility." This happy humiU-
ation makes way for the greatest exaltation : for "thus saith the high
and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit
of the humble, and the heart of the contrite," to " fill the hungry with
good things," and "beautify the meek with salvation," Isaiah Ivii, 15.
ii these advantages, which exceed the worth of earthly crowns, ne-
cessarily result from the proper knowledge of our coiTupt and lost
estate, who, but an infatuated enemy of his own soul, would be afraid
of that self science 1 Who, but an obstinate Pharisee, would not esteem
it, next to the knowledge of Christ, the greatest blessing which Heaven
can bestow upon the self^ destroyed, and yet self- conceited children
of men?
Careless reader, if thou art the person ; if remaining unshaken in thy
carnal confidence, and supposing thyself " wiser than seven men that
can render a reason," thou not only despisest the testimony of the sacred
writers, and our pious reformers, laid before thee in the first part of this
treatise, but disregardest the numerous arguments it contains, tramplest
under foot both matter of fact and common sense, and remainest unaffected
by the most dreadful consequences of self ignorance on the one hand,
and by the greatest advantages of self knowledge on the other, I have
done, and must take my leave of thee.
May the merciful and holy God, whose laws thou dost daily violate,
whose word thou hourly opposest or forgettest, whose salvation thou dost
every moment neglect, whose vengeance thou continually provokest, and
whose cause I have attempted to plead, bear with thee and thy insults a
little longer ! May his infinite patience yet afford thee some means of
conviction, more effectual than that which is at present in thy hands !
Or shouldest thou look into this labour of love once more, may it then
answer a better purpose than to aggravate thy guilt, and enhance thy
condemnation, by rendering the folly of thy unbelief more glaring, and
consequently more inexcusable !
A CONCLUDING ADDRESS
THE SERIOUS READER,
WHO INQUIRES,
"WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?"
Is there no balm in Oilead r la there no physician there ? Why then is not the health of the
daughter of tny people recovered ?— Jbremiah.
AN ADDRESS TO THE SERIOUS READER.
Having taken my leave of the thoughtless and gay, who regard an
appeal to their reason, as little as they do the warnings of their con-
science, I return to thee,* serious and well-disposed reader. I am too
much concerned for thy soul's welfare, to lay down my pen, without
showing thee more perfectly the way to the kingdom of heaven, by
testifying to thee " repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ."
Thou art happily weary of feeding upon the husks of earthly vanities.
I have a right, therefore, as a steward of the mysteries of God, to bring
out of the Divine treasuiy the pearls of evangehcal truth ; and I gladly
cast them before thee, persuaded, that far from awakening thy anger,
they will excite thy desires, and animate thy languid hopes.
Instead of ridicuhng, or dreading a heart-felt conviction of thy lost
estate, thou now scest it is a desirable privilege, an invaluable blessing.
Ready to mourn because thou canst not mourn, thou complainest that
thou hast only a confused view of thy total depravity. Thou wantest
the feelings of the royal penitent when he said, " Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity," &c ; " I acknowledge my transgressions," and " my sin is
ever before me ;" but conscious thou canst not raise them in thy heart
by natural powers, thou desirest some Scriptural directions suitable to
thy case. Give me leave to uitx'oduce them by a few
PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS
On the nature and depth of penitential sorrow.
I. Thou knowest that " except thou" truly " repentest, thou shalt"
surely " perish," and that there is no true repentance, where there is no
true sorrow for sin, " I rejoice," says St. Paul to the Corinthians, " that
ye were made sorry after a godly manner : for godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation, not to he repented of; but the sorrow of the
world worketh death." Hence it appears that there are two sorts of
sorrow springing from opposite sources, God and the world ; the one a
" godly sorrow," and the other " the sorrow of the world." Learn to
distinguish them by their various causes and etfects, so shalt thou avoid
the danger of mistaking the one for the other.
The sorrow of the world, which many cover with the cloalv of religion,
arises from fear of contempt, dread of poverty, secret jealousy, revenge
dissatisfied, love disappointed, baffled schemes, losses in business, unkind-
* This address is only calculated for serious persons, wlio cordially assent to the
doctrine established in the rational demonstration of our fallen and lost estate.
As Oliver readers have been dismissed with the portion of truth that belongs to
them, they are desired not to meddle with this, lost their cavils confirm St. Paul's
observation, " We preach Christ crucified, to the" self-righteous " Jews a stumbling
block, and to the" self-conceited "Greeks foolishness."
346 AN ADDRESS TO EARNTIST
iicss of friends, provocation of enemies, or the death of some idohzed
relative. Nav, this sorrow may sometimes spring from a mixture of
self-righteous pride and slavish fear. Some cannot bear to be robbed
of their fond hopes of meriting heaven by their imagmary good works.
They lose all patience when they see their best righteousness brought
to light, and exposed as " filthy rags ;" they are cut to the heart, when they
hear tlieir apparent good deeds deserve punishment as well as their black
enormities : or, like condemned malefactors, they dread the consequences
of their crimes, while they feel little or no horror for the crimes
themselves.
Exceedingly fatal are the effects of this sorrow in the persons whom
it overcomes : their indignant hearts, unable to bear either disappoint-
ment, contradiction, or condemnation, rise against second causes, or
against the decrees of Providence ; fret at the strictness of the law, or
holiness of the Lawgiver ; and pine away with uninterrupted discontent.
Hence, spurning at advice, direction, and consolation, they wring their
hands, or " gnaw their tongues with anguish ;" impatience works them
up into stupid sullenness, or noisy murmuring ; they complam that their
" punishment is greater than they can bear ;" and, imagining they are
more severely dealt with than others, they hastily conclude, " Behold this
evil is from the Lord, why should I wait for him any longer ?" Thus
black despair seizes upon their spirits : and if grace does not interpose,
they either live on to fill up the measure of their iniquities, as Cain,
Pharaoh, and Haman ; or madly lay violent hands upon themselves, as
Ahithophel and Judas.
This sorrow cannot be too much guarded against, as it not only
destroys many persons, but does immense hurt to religion. For those
who are glad of any pretence to pour contempt upon godliness, taking
occasion from the instances of this sorrow, harden their own hearts, and
prejudice all around them against the blessed " godly sorrow," which
every mmister of the Gospel endeavours to excite ; maliciously repre-
senting it as one and the same with the mischievous " sorrow of the
world."
Their mistake will be evident, if we trace godly sorrow back to its
source. It does not spring merely from fear of punishment ; but chiefly
from humbling views of God's holiness, the impurity of the human
nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the transcendent excellency
<:»f the law which condemns the sinner.
And this happy sorrow differs not less from the other in its effects,
than it does in its cause. The persons who are blessed with it, far from
murmuring or fretting at the Divine commandment, see it to be " holy,
just, and good," both in its preceptive and penal part. They so abso-
lutely acquiesce in it that they would not alter it if they could. They
clear God, accuse themselves, subscribe their own sentence, and acknow-
ledge, " it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed." Each of
them can say, " Wherefore should a living man complam, a man for the
punishment of his sins ? It is good that he should both hope, and quietly
wait, for God's salvation : I will therefore watch to see what he will
say unto me, for he will speak peace unto his people." Thus in a con-
stant use of all the ordinances of God, they meekly wait, wrestling with
their unbelie\ang fears, till victorious " faith comes by hearing" of the
SEEKERS FOR SALVATION. 347
matchless love of Jesus Christ ; and then, " fearing the Lord and his
goodness," they " sing the song of the Lamb," and run upon his delight-
ful errands.
As thou seest, serious reader, the nature, necessity, and excellence of
" godly sorrow," thou art probably desirous of being informed how deep
thine must be, to constitute thee a true penitent. Know then, that it
must be deep enough to embitter thy most pleasing, profitable, and
habitual sins, and to prevent thy resting without a clear sense of thy
peculiar interest in Christ. It must be profound enough to make him
and his Gospel infinitely precious to thee, and to produce, under God,
the blessed effects mentioned in the fifth part of the preceding treatise.
To be more particular : a true penitent may certainly, without despair
or madness, go as far in godly sorrow, as David does in his penitential
Psalms, or our Church in the first part of the Homily on Fasting.
" When good men," says she, " feel in themselves the heavy burthen of
sin, see damnation to be the reward of it, and behold with the eye of
their mind the horror of hell, they tremble, they quake, they are inwardly
touched with sorrowfulness of heart for their offences, and cannot but
accuse themselves, and open their grief unto almighty God, and call on
him for mercy. Tliis being done seriously, their mind is so occupied,
partly with sorrow and heaviness, partly with an earnest desire to be
delivered from this danger of hell and damnation, that all desire of
meat and drink is laid aside, and loathing of all worldly things and
pleasures comes in place, so that they hke notliing better than to weep,
to lament, to mourn, and, both with words and behaviour of body, to
show themselves weaiy of tliis Ufe."
Nevertheless, it must be observed that godly sorrow needs not be equal,
either in degree or duration, in all penitents. Tiiose whose hearts,
through Divine grace, open as readily and gently as that of Lydia,
happily avoid many of David's pangs and Job's terrors. The powerful
and instantaneous, or the gentle and gradual manner, in which souls are
awakened ; the difference of constitutions ; the peculiar services that a
iev: are called to, and for which they are prepared hy pecuUar exercises ;
the horrid aggravations that have attended the sins of some ; and the
severe correction which the Lord is obliged to give others, for their
stout resistance against his grace ; all this may help us to account for
the various depths of distress, through which different penitents pass in
their way to Christ and salvation.
The Lord does not needlessly afllict the children of men, any more
than a tender father unnecessarily corrects his disobedient children ; he
only wants us to forsake our sins, renounce our own imaginary righteous-
ness, and come to Christ to be partakers of his merits, holiness, and
felicity. The sorrow which answers these ends is quite sufficient,
though it should be ever so light, and of ever so short a duration. On
the contrary, a distress as heavy as that of Judas is unavailable, if,
instead of driving us from sin to Jesus Christ, it only drives us firom
profaneness to hypocrisy, or from presumption to despair.
If, still perplexed, thou askest what thou must do to get a sense of thy
depravity productive of true repentance ; I answer, that an affecting dis-
covery of the guilt, nature, and danger of sin, is only attained by the
assistance of God's Spirit, " who alone effectually convinces the world
348 AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
of sin," John xvi, 8. But the Lord has graciously appointed means, in
the right use of which he never denies a sinner the convincing and con-
verting power of his blessed Spirit ; and what they are, thou art informed
in the following
DIRECTIOIVS
Proper for a lidlf-awakened sinner, desirovs of being duly convinced of his
corrupt and lost estate.
II. Beware of " fools," that " make a mock at" sorrow for sin, and
at f ' sin" itself. Beware of those " blind leaders of the blind," who,
" having a form of godliness, deny the power thereof:" instead of point-
ing thee to the throne of grace, and bidding thee " behold the Lamb of
God that taketli away the sin of the world," they will only dii-ect thee
to the church walls and communion table : and, perhaps, if they see
thee under dejection of spirit for thy sins, they will recommend the play
house, the card table, or what they call a " cheerful glass." " From
such turn away," or they will persuade thee that repentance is melan-
choly ; conviction of sin despair ; and the love of God enthusiasm,
2 Tim. iii, 5.
That they may not be able to laugh or frown thee out of the way of
salvation, dwell in thy thoughts on God's awful perfections. " .Tustice
and judgment are the habitation of his throne." The unspotted,
resplendent holiness beaming forth from him, as from an immensely
glorious Sun of righteousness, will show thee thy sins as innumerable
as the flying motes discovered in a dusty room, where the natural sun
can penetrate. Consider that they are committed by a worm of earth,
against the Majesty of heaven ; and they will all appear to thee infinitely-
great : especially if thou measures! them and thyself by the true rule,
the oracles of (rod ; casting away the three false standards which self-
deceivers measure themselves by, namely, the good opinion of their
worldly minded neighbours, the defective examples of their fellow sin-
ners, and the flattering suggestions of their own blind self love.
Follow the example of " the noble Bereans : search the Scriptures
daily, whether these things are so," Acts xvii, 11. View, in that faith-
ful mirror, the picture both of the natural and of the regenerate man,
and ask thy conscience which thou resemblest most. If imitating the
godly man described in the first Psalm, thou " meditatest in the law of
the Lord day and night," the straitness of the heavenly rule will soon
show thee how very far gone thy thoughts, words, actions, tempers, and
nature are from original righteousness.
To this meditation add a fx'equent survey of the follies of thy child-
ijood, the vanity of thy youth, the worldly mindedness of thy riper years,
the capital transgi-essions wliich conscience accuses thee of, and the
" hardness of heart," and " alienation from the life of God," that the
Scriptures charge thee with. Confess all to the Lord as tliou art able,
remembering that " the wages of sin is death," who flies fast upon thee
with the wings of time — death, who often gives no warning, and
ushers in judgment, with all the horrors of hell, or the joys of heaven ;
and pray that these awful realities may aflect thee now, as they will in
thy last moments.
Frequently reflect how total must be our loss of spiritual life, which
SEEKERS FOR SALVATION. 349
cannot be repaired but by a " resurrection," a " new birth," or a " new
creation," Col. iii, 1 ; John iii, 7 ; Gal. vi, 5. And how desperate the
disease of our fallen nature, which caiuiot be healed but with the blood
of a Divine Physician. Consider attentively, consider Him, whose
piercuig look softened the obdurate heart of cursing Peter, whose amaz-
ing sufleiings brought a hardened thief under the deepest concern for
his salvation," and whose dymg groans " rent the rocks, shook the earth,
and opened tlie graves." The tender flower of evangelical sorrow grows
best in the shade of his cross ; a believing view of him, as suflcring for
thee, will mek thee into penitential tears, and seal upon thy relenting
heart the gracious promise, " They shall look upon him whom they have
pierced, and mourn," Zech. xii, 10.
In the meantime improve the daily opportunities wliich thou hast of
studying human corruption in the life and tempers of all around thee,
but chiefly in thy own careless and deceitful heart : take notice of its
pride and seU' seeking, of its risings, and secret workings, especially
when unexpected temptations trouble thy imaginary peace of mind : for
at such a time thy corruption, like the sediment in the bottom of a vial
that is shaken, will show its loathsomeness and strength.
Converse, frequently if thou canst, with persons deeply convinced of
sin. Attend a plain, heart-searcliing ministry as often as possible ; and
when the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, pierces thy soul, beware
of fretful impatience. Instead of rishig with indignation against the
preacher, and saying as proud Ahab did to the man of God, "Hast thou
found me, O mine enemy?" account him thy best friend that wounds
thee deepest, provided he bruigs thee to Christ for a cure : and when
the arrows of the word fly abroad, drop the shield of unbelief, make
bare thy breast, welcome the blessed shaft, and remember that the
only way of conqueruig sin is to fall wounded and helpless at the
Redeemer's feet.
Nevertheless, the impressions of the word will soon wear off* if thou
dost not importunately entreat the Searcher of hearts to light the candle
of his grace in thy soul, that thou mayest clearly see whether " thy
inward parts" are " hohness to the Lord," as thou fondly supposedst;
or " very wickedness," as the Scripture testifies. It is only in God's
light that we can clearly discover our bhndness.
This " hght," it is true, " shineth in darkness," but frequently " the
darkness comprehendeth it not." That this be not thy dreadtiil case,
do not grieve and quench the convincing Spint, by persisting in the wilful
omission of any duty, or deliberate commission of any sin : nothing but
obstinate unbelief darkens the mind, and hardens the heart, more than
this. Therefore, instead of burj'ing thy "one talent" with the " sloth-
ful servant," earnestly pray the Lord to make thee faithful in thy con-
victions, and to deepen them daily till they end in a sound conversion.
In order to this, do not slightly heal the wound in thy conscience : it
is better to keep it open than to skin it over by im[)roper means : many,
through a natural forwardness and impatience, have recourse to them,
and ruin is the consequence of their mistake. That thou mayest
avoid it, serious reader, T entreat thee to [>ay a due regard to the
following
350 AN ADDRESS TO EABNEST
CAUTIONS,
Proper for a penitent who desires to make his calling and election suke.
III. When thou hast affecting views of thy lost estate, beware of
resting, like Felix, in some pangs of fear, fits of trembling, and resolu-
tions of turning to God by and by, "when" thou " shalt have a conve-
nient season." Neither give place to desponding thoughts, as if there
was no appeal from the tribunal of justice to tlie throne of grace.
Run not for ease to vain company, bodily indulgence, entangling affec-
tions, immoderate sleep, excessive drinking, or hurry of business. " Cain
built a city " to divert his trouble of mind ; and muUitudes like him, by
" the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, or the desire of
other things," daily choke the good seed, the precious word of convic-
tion, Mark iv, 19.
Be not satisfied with faint desires of living the life of the righteous, or
idle wishes of dying their death. Remember that " the desire of the
slothful kills him :" and if thou hast experienced some drawings of grace,
meltings of heart, or breathings after God, sit not down at last, as the
Laodiceans, in a careless state, " neither liot nor cold." It is far better
to go on thy way weeping, and seeking "the pearl of gi-eat price" till
thou really find it, than to rest contented with a hasty conceit that thou
art possessed of it, when thou art not.
Stop not in an outward reformation, and a form of godliness, like many
who mistake the means or doctrines of grace for grace itself; and be-
cause they say their heartless prayers both in public and private, or go
far and often to hear the Gospel preached in its purity, fondly hope that
they are the favourites of God and in the high way to heaven.
Under pretence of increasing thy convictions, do not bury them in
heaps of rehgious books. Some read till their heads are confused, or
their hearts past feeling. Thus, though " ever learning, they ai'e never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Hear, then, as well as
ready the word of life ; but think not thyself converted when thou hast
" received it with joy." The stony ground hearers went as far as this :
" Herod himself heard John gladly, honoured him, did many things,"
but left the most important undone : for he never dismissed the incestu-
ous woman he hved with ; and at last sacrificed to her revenge the
honest preacher he once admired.
Do not confound the covenant of works made with innocent Adam before
the fall, and the covenant of grace made with sinful Adam after the fall,
Gen. ii, 17, and iii, 15, and Rom. v, 11-21. They are excellent in
their place, but when they are mixed together they destroy each other's
efficacy. The dreadful thunders heard in Paradise Lost, and the melo-
dious songs uttered in Paradise Regained, do not strike at once the same
spiritual ear. The galling yoke*of the law of works, and the heavy load
of its condemnation, are dropped when we take upon us Christ's easy
yoke, and submit to his light burden. In a word, the first Adam gives
place to the second when we "find rest unto our souls." Let then the
curse of the law of innocence be swallowed up bj' the blessing of the
Gospel ; or rather let it make way for the grace of Christ in thy soul,
aa an emetic makes way for a cordial in a disordered stomach. If thou
SEEKERS FOR SALVATION. 351
takest them together their respective use is pi-evented. The first cove-
nant loses its humbling efficacy, and the second its restorative power.
Therefore, if thou hast really "received the sentence of death in thyself,"
leave the cui-se of the first covenant in the grave of Christ, " crucified
for thy sins ;" and welcome the pardoning, renovating grace of Christ,
" risen again for thy justification."
On the other hand, rest not contented with speculative knowledge,
and unaffecting, though clear, ideas of the Gospel way of salvation.
Light in an unrenewed understanding, mistaken for " the mystery of
faith in a pure heart," like an ignis fatuus, or false light, leads thousands
through the bogs of sin into the pit of destruction, Acts viii, 13.
Pacify not thy conscience by activity in outward services, and a
warmth in God's cause : party spirit or natural steadiness in carrying on
a favourite scheme, yea, or seeking thy own glory, may be the springs
that set thee on the work. Jehu faithfully destroyed Baal and Jezebel,
but his zeal for the Lord covered the seci'et desire of a crown. Take
care also not to mistake gifts for graces ; fluency of speech for convert-
ing power ; the warmth of natural affection for Divuie love ; or an
impulse of God's Spirit, on some particular occasion, for an evidence
of spiritual regeneration. Balaam spoke and prophesied like a child of
God, and " many will one day say " to Christ, " Lord, have we not
prophesied, spoke all mysteries, cast out devils, and done many wonder-
ful works in thy name ?" To whom he will answer, " Depart from me,
I know you not."
Avoid the self conceit of many who teed on the corrupted manna of
their past experiences, and confidently appeal to the wasted streams of
those consolations which once refreshed their hearts ; when, alas !
it is evident " they have " now " forsaken the fountain of Uving wa-
ter," and " he^vn to themselves broken cisterns that hold no water ;"
unless the mire of evil tempers, selfish views, and heartless profes-
sions of faith, may pass for " the streams wliich gladden the city of
God."
Neither do thou heal thyself by touches of sorrow, by tears,^ good
desires, or outward marks of humiliation for sin, as King Ahab. Nor
by excessive fasting, retiring from business, or hard usage of the body,
as many Roman CathoUcs ; nor yet by misapplying the doctrine of pre-
destination, and setting down notions of election for evidences of salva-
tion, as many Protestants. No, nor by " doting about questions, strifes
of words, and perverse disputings, which eat as a canker," as some in
St. Paul's days, and too many in ours, 1 Tim. vi, 4.
To conclude : ITiink not thou art absolutely made whole when the
power of outward sm is weakened or suspended, when thou hast leanied
the language of Canaan, canst speak or write well on spiritual subjects,
art intimately acquainted with the best ministers of Christ, and hast cast
thy lot among the despised children of God, taken their part, shared in
their reproach, and secured their esteem and prayers. Judas did so for
years : " Saul was " once " also among the prophets." Ananias and
Sapphira were supposed to be good believers for a time ; the foolish
virgins joined in society with the wise, and were perhaps unsuspected
to the last ; and Peter himself stood in need of conversion, long after he
had outwardly " left all to follow Christ," Luke xxii, 32. So important
'*5:i
AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
is that charge of our Lord, " Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for
many will seek to enter in and shall not be able."
To these cautions against the various ways by which the generaUty
of penitents skin over the wound of sm in their conscience, permit me to
add an
EVANGELICAJL EXHORTATION,
Pointing out the Divine method of a sound cure, which, though least re-
garded, and last tried, by most sinners, is not only effectual in some, hui
infallible in all cases.
IV. Wouldst thou, serious reader, be made whole in an evangehcal
mamier ? To thy convictions of original and actual sin must be added a
conviction of unbelief. Feel, then, that thou hast neglected Christ's gi-eat
salvation : own thou didst never ask, or never persevere in asking, the
unfeigned, saving, powerful faith, by which " the atonement is received"
and enjoyed, Rom. v, 11. Acknowledge that the faith thou hast hitherto
rested in was not " the gift of God," that grace " of his own operation,
wrought in thee according to the workmg of his mighty power," and
mentioned Eph. ii, 8 ; Col. ii, 12 ; Eph. i, 9. And confess it was not
the right Christian faith, because it chiefly grew from the seed of pre-
judice and education, as the faith of Jews and Turks, and not from the
seed of Divine grace and power, as the faith of St. Paul, Gal. i, 14 ;
and because it never yielded the heavenly fniits wliich Gospel faith
infallibly produces : such as, " a vital union with Christ," Gal. ii, 20 ;
" the pardon of suas," Col. i, 14 ; Acts xiii, 39 ; " peace with God,"
Rom. V, 1; "dominion over sin," Rom. vi, 14; "victory over the
world," 1 John v, 4 ; "the crucifixion of the flesh," Gal. v ; " power to
quench the fiery darts of the wicked," Eph. vi, 16 ; "joy unspeakable,"
1 Pet. i, 8 ; " and the salvation of the soul," 1 Pet. i, 9 ; Heb. x, 39.
Be not afraid of this conviction of unbelief; for it generally goes be-
fore Divine faith, as the fermentation of a grain of com in the earth is
previous to its shooting its stalk toward heaven. " God concludes,"
shuts us u]} " in mibelief," says St. Paul, " that he may have mercy
upon us," Rom. xi, 32. " When the Comforter is come, says our Lord,"
" he will convince the world of sin, because they beUeve not in me."
This is the transgression which peculiarly deserves the name of sin, as
being the damning sin according to the Gospel, Mark xvi, 16, the sin
that binds upon us the guilt of all our other iniquities, and keeps up the
power of all our corruptions. Its immediate eft'ect is to " harden the
heart," Mark xvi, 14 ; and " make it depart from the li\ing God," Heb.
iii, 12 ; and this hardness and departure are the genuine parents of ail
our actual sins, the number and blackness of which increase or decrease,
as the strength of unbelief grows or decays.
A conviction of this sin is of the utmost importtmce, as nothing but an
affecting sense of its heinousuess and f)ower can make us entirely weaiy
of ourselves : nothing but a sight of its destnictivc nature can prevent
our resting without a complete cure.
But when thou art once convinced ot' unbelief, do not increase the
difficulty of bcHeving by imagining true faith at an immense distance.
Consider it as very near thy heart. That which convinces thee of sin
and vinbelief can, in a moment, and with the greatest case, convince
SKEKKRS FOR SALVATION. 353
thee of righteousness, and "reveal in thee Christ the hope of glory."
How quickly can the Spirit take of the things that belong to him, and
show them unto thee ! "Say not" then " in thy heart, Who shall ascend
into heaven, or descend into the deep " to get me the seed of faith ? But
let St. Paul show thee " the new and living way." " The Avord is nigh
thee," says he, " even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word
of faith which we preach ; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved :" for " we are saved by faith ; faith cometh
by liearing, and hearing by the word of God." "Hear" then "the
word of the Lord."
Are thy sins really grievous to thee ? Is the burden of them intole-
rable ? Wouldst thou part with it at any rate ? Dost thou fully renounce
thy speculative and barren faith ? Hast thou received the sentence of
eternal death in thy conscience, acknowledging thy case (for any thing
thou canst do without Christ) helpless, hopeless, desperate? And art
thou truly brought to the grand inquiry, " What must I do to be saved ?"
See, feel, confess, that thou standest in absolute need of a Divine Phy-
sician, an ahnighty Redeemer ; and that the God-man, Jesus Christ, joina
both those extraordinary characters in his wonderful person. Submit to
be " saved by grace," by free grace, through his infinite merits, and not
thy wretched deserts ; and instead of opposing, continually study God's
wonderful method of saving sinners, the worst of sinners, hy faith in his
blood.
" There is no name but his under heaven whereby we must be saved ;"
neither is there cure, or " salvation, in any other," Acts iv, 12. As " by
him all things were created," so " by him they subsist," and by him they
must be restored. The power of his word and breath made man a living
soul ; and now that we are dead to God, the same power, applying liis
blood and righteousness, must " create in us clean hearts," and " renew
right spirits within us." This, and this only, heals wounded consciences,
washes polluted souls, and raises the dead in trespasses and sins.
Wouldst thou then be made whole ? " Determine," as St. Paul, " to
know nothing but Christ, and him crucified." Aim at beheving, realizing,
applicaloiy views of what he is, and what he has done and sufiered for
thee. Through all the clouds of thy guilt and unbelief, which will vanish
before our " Sun of righteousness," as mists before the material sun,
" behold him as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,"
and thine. See the immense dignity of his person ; " he is God over
all, blessed for ever ;" and yet he condescends to be " Immanuel, God
with us, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone." Consider the inex-
pressible value and inconceivable efiicacy of his precious, all atoning
blood. It is the blood of the sacred body assumed by the eternal Logos,
when he " appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh," both as a victim and
a priest, to suffer the penalty of his own righteous law for us, and " to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" — the blood " of the Lamb of God,
slain to sprinkle many nations," — the blood of that mysterious Being,
who fills " the bosom of the Father," and the everlasting throne, at whose
feet all the heavenly powers " cast their crowns ;" and to whom, in the
midst of the acclamations and adorations of " an innumerable company
of angels," in the midst of " sounding trumpets, thunderings, lightnings,
Vol. IM. 23
354 AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
and voices, the spinls of just men made perfect ascribe salvation," free,
full, immensely dear-bought salvation. And, to say all in one word, it
is " the blood of God made manitest in the flesh," Acts xx, 28 ; 1 Tim.
iii, 16. For " Jehovah our righteousness" is " the seed of the woman,
and the son of man." The Godhead and the manhood are wonderfully
joined in him ; and in consequence of this mysterious union, he is not
only a proper " Mediator between God and man," but the sole medium
of reconciliation and union between the offended Majesty of heaven and
the rebellious sons of Adam. As the brazen serpent lifted up in the wil-
derness, when viewed by the wounded Israelites, was the only means by
which the poison of the fieiy serpents could be expelled, and health
restored to their tortured, dying bodies : so Jesus lifted up on the cross,
when beheld by the eye of faith as bleeding and dying in our stead, is
the only way by which sin, the sting of death, can be extracted out of
our guilty, perishing souls ; the only antidote that can restore us to saving
health and eternaj life, John iii, 14. Apply whatever we will, beside
this sovereign remedy, we may poison, but can never heal, the envenomed
and mortal wound.
But remember, sinner, tliat faith alone can make the blessed applica-
tion. Adam fell by rejecting in unbelief the word of threatening, and
thou canst never rise, but by receiving in faith " the word of reconcilia-
tion," Gen. ii, 17 ; 2 Cor. v, 19. Instead then of confusing thy thoughts
and scattering thy desires by the pui'suit of a variety of objects, remem-
ber that " one thing is needful" for thee, — Christ and his salvation,
received by faith : " for, to as many as receive him, he gives power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Be-
seech him, therefore, to manifest himself to thee by his word and Spirit.
" He is the Author and Finisher of faith," the " Giver of every good and
perfect gift ;" ask of him a heart-felt confidence that " God so loved"
thee, " as to give his only begotten Son, that thou shouldest not perish,
but have everlasting life ;" a fu-m confidence that, as the first Adam
Avilfully ruined thee, so he, " the second Adam," freely " loved thee," and
" gave himself for thee ;" and that thou " hast redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sii^s," not " according to" thy merits, but " the
riches of his grace."
The least degree of this Divmely wrought confidence Avill begin to
attract and unite thy soul to Him, who " is our life" and " peace," our
" strength and righteousness." The everlasting Gospel will then be
music in thine ears, and power in thy heart. Its cheerful solemn sound
will raise thy drooping spirits, and make thee fix the eye of thy mind on
the " sign of the Son of man," the uplifted banner of the cross. And (>,
while the self righteous see nothing there but the " despised, rejected
Man of sorrows," what wilt thou discover ? " God in Christ, recon-
ciling the world unto himself!" "God manifest in the flesh io destroy
the works of the devil !" Jehovah "Jesus, the Captain of our salvation,
treading the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty !
Of the people there was none with him, therefore his own arm brought
salvation unto him."
While the Gospel " trumpet is blown in Sion," and the self-hardened,
scofiing infidel, hears it with disdain and ridicule, what joy will the
awful declarations convey to thy penitent and listening soul ! With what
SEEKERS FOK SALVATION. 355
rapturous delight wilt thou hang upon the lips of the messengers of
peace, the sons of consolation, who preach free salvation by the blood
of Jesus ! While he himself, " confirming the word of liis servants,"
says to the melting heart, with liis " still, small," and yet poweriul,
renovating " voice," " Behold, I sit upon my Uirone making all things
new :" "The words that I speak are spirit and life :" " I do not con-
denm thee, thy sins are forgiven :" " Bo thou clean :" " Thy faith hath
saved thee :" " Go in peace, and sin no more," Rev. xxi, 5 ; John vi,
63 ; Luke vii, 48, 50 ; Matt, viii, 3 ; John viii, 11.
And O ! what will thy beheving, enlai"ged heart experience " in that
day of God's power," and thy spiritual birth ! Christ, " the true hght
of the world, the eternal hfe of men, coming suddenly to his temple,"
and filling it with the light of his coimtenance, and the power of his
resurrection ! Christ " shedding abroad in thy " ravished " soul, the love
of thy heavenly Father," thy bitterest enemies, and all mankind ! In a
word, " the Holy Ghost given unto thee !" Or, " Christ dwelling in thy
heart by faith," John i, 4 ; 1 John v, 12 ; Rom. viii, 15 ; v, 5 ; Gal. i,
16 ; Eph. i, 13 ; iii, 17.
Being thus " made partaker of Christ," and " of the Holy Ghost,"
Heb. iii, 14, and vi, 4, thy loving heart, thy praising lips, thy blameless
life, will agree to testify, that *' the Son of man hath power on earth to
forgi\'e sins," and that " if any man is in Christ he is a new creature ;
old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new," Matt, ix,
6 ; 2 Cor. v, 17.
' Till this is thy happy experience, pray, (as the drawings of the Father
and convictions of the Spirit will enable thee,) earnestly pray lor living
faith, for a " faith" that may be to thee " the substance of" the pardon
thou " hopest for," and " the evidence" of the great sacrifice thou " dost
not see," but which our Divine Surety really oftered upon the cross for
ikee. Consider how deplorable a thing it is that thou shouldest be pre-
vented from claiming, receiving, enjoying the delightflil knowledge of
thy interest in the Redeemer's death, when his pardoning love, and " the
word of liis grace," oficr it thee " without money and without price," and
absolutely nothing but infatuating unbelief, or spiritual slotli, keeps thee
from the invaluable blessing. Be not satisfied idly to wait in the Divine
ordinances, till thou " seest the kingdom of God come with power ;" but,
as the " violent" do, " take it by force."
Prisoner of hope, be strong, bo bold,
Cast off' tliy doubts, disdain to fear :
Dare to believe, on Christ lay hold ;
Wrestle with Christ in mighty prayer :
Tell him, " I will not let thee go.
Till I thy name, thy nature know."
Be attentive to the calls of the Spirit, and follow the drawings of the
Father, till they bring thee to the Son ; and keep thine eye upon the
dawning hght of the Gospel, till " the morning star arise in thy heart."
Venture, confidently venture upon the boundless mercy of God in Jesus
Christ. If a spirit of infirmity bows thee down, yield not to it ; " seventy
times seven times" try to arise and look up, calling aloud for help against
it. Say, if possible " with tears," as the distressed father in the Gospel,
356 AN A0DEESS TO EARNEST
"Lord, I believe," or, Lord, I would believe, " help thou my unbehef:"
or with tempted Job, " Though thou slay me, yet will I trust in thee."
In this manner knock, with the earnestness of the importunate widow,
till the door of faith open, and thou begin to " see the salvation of God."
But stop not here at the threshold of Christianity. " Have boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Go on " from faith to faith,"
till thy " day of pentecost is fully come," till thou art " endued with power
from on high, baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire," and " sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise," wliich Christ " received of the Father,"
and " abundantly shed on his servants and handmaids," when he was
" glorified :" compare Matt, iii, 11 ; Eph. i, 13 ; John vii, 39 ; Acts i, 5, 8,
and ii, 33, 39, and viii, 15, and xix, 2 ; John vii, 39 ; Tit. iii, 6.
In the meantime use all the means of grace with aji eye to their end ;
" stir up the gift" of hope " that is in thee ;" and, to raise thy drooping
expectation, receive the encouraging testimony of God's redeemed, prais-
ing people, whose hearts and tongues are ready to testify to thy ears
what the following lines declare to tliine eyes.
V. " That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that
you also may have fellowsliip with us ; and tnily our fellowship is with
the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show untx) you that eternal
life which was with the Fathei', and is manifested unto us." Yes, " we
have found him, of whom Moses and the prophets did write." From
blessed experience we declare that the Messiah is come, and his essence
is love incarnate, his name Free Salvation, and his delight the eternal hap-
piness of the children of men. " He is the chief among ten thousand"
prophets, priests, kings, and saviours; "he is altogether lovely." We
staked our souls upon his eternal truth, and it was done to us both ac-
cording to his word and our faith. Therefore, with humble joy we
declare, that he answers the prayers, and delivers the souls of perishing
sinners, as graciously as he did in the days of his flesh.
Upon trials, a thousand times successfully repeated, we proclaim him
the help of the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the health of the
sick, the strength of the weak, the riches of the poor, the peace of the
disquieted, the comfort of the afflicted, the light of those that sit in
darkness, the companion of the desolate, the friend of the friendless, the
way of the bewildered, the wisdom of the foolish, the righteousness of
the ungodly, the sanctification of the unholy, the redemption of captives,
the joy of mourners, the glory of the infamous, and, in a word, the
salvation of the lost.
Though he was the Creator of men and angels, he vouchsafed to be
born of a woman, that we, the wretched offspring of degenerate Adam,
might be born again, bom of God. Though he had stretched forth the
heavens like a curtain, and bespangled them with stars innumerable, he
wrapped himself in the scanty, fading garment of our flesh, and put on
the veil of our miserable humanity, that we might be invested with the
glory and communicable perfections of the Divine nature. Though he
was the King of kings and Lord of lords, he did not disdain to take
upon him the form and office of a servant, that we might be delivered
from the slavery of Satan, and that angels might be sent forth to minister
for us, who arc the heirs of salvation. Though he was the " fulness
SEEKERS FOR SALVATION. 357
of lum who fills all in all," he worked that we might not want ; toiled,
tiiat we might rest ; and endured hunger and thirst, that we might taste
the hidden maima, eat the bread of Ufe, and drink with him the mystic
wine of his Father's kingdom. His omnipotent word covers a thousand
hills with verdure, and clothes millions of creatures with rich furs, ght-
tering scales, and shuiing phmiage ; but, O infinite condescension ! he
submitted to be stripped of his plain raiment, that our shame might not
appear ; he became naked, that we might be adorned with robes of
righteousness and garments of salvation. Though his riches were
immense and unsearchable like himself, though heaven .was his thi'one
and earth his footstool., he became poor, and was destitute of a place
where to lay his head, that we might be rich in faith here, and heirs of
the kingdom hereafter. Though he was, is now, and ever shall be the
joy of the heavenly powers, and the object of their deepest adoration ;
he was voluntarily despised of men, that we might be honoured of God :
he was acquainted too with griefs, that we might rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. Though supreme Lawgiver and Judge
of all, matchless love made him yield to be judged, and unjustly con-
demned at Pilate's bar, that we might be honourably acquitted, and
gloriously rewarded before his awful tribunal. Though archangels laid
their crowns at his feet, and seraphim veiled their faces before him,
unable to stand tlic dazzling eftulgence of his glory, he suffered himself
to be derided, scoffed, spit upon, scourged, and crowned with thorns ;
that we might be acknowledged, applauded, embraced, and presented
>vith never-fading crowns of righteousness and glory. "The Lord of
Hosts" is his name ; he is deservedly called, " Wonderful, Counsellor,
the everlasting Father, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace ;" cherubic
legions fly at his nod ; and yet, astonishing humiliation ! " his shoulders,
on which is laid the government" of the world, felt the infamous load
of a malefactor's cross ; and barbarous soldiers, followed by an enraged
mob, led him as a lamb to the slaughter, that we might be delivered from
the heavy curse of the law, and gently convej^ed by the celestial powers
into Abraham's bosom. " Let all the angels of God worship liim," is
the great decree to which the heavenly hierarchy submits with mcessant
transporis of the most ardent devotion : and yet he was crucified as an
execrable wretch, guilty of treason and blasphemy, that we, daring
rebels and abominable sinners, might be " made kings and priests unto
God," partaking of 1m highest glory, as he partook of our deepest
shame : and, to crown his loving kindness, he expired in the midst of
rending rocks and a supernatural darkness ; that we might feel his
tender mercies, and be iivdulged with the light of heaven, when we go
through the dreary valley of the shadow of death, to reap the joys of
eternal life.
Survey this wondrous cure ;
And at each step let higher wonders rise !
Pardon for infinite offence ; and pardon
Through n)eans that speak its value infinite !
A pardon bought with blood I with blood Divine I
With blood divine of Him we made our foe !
PerBisted, to provoke ! though woo'd and awed,
Bless'd and chastised ! bold, flagrant rebels still •
Bold rebels 'midst the thunders of his throne I
358 AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
Nor we alone ! a rebel universe !
Yet for the foulest of the foul he dies.
But this is not all : having " through the grace of God tasted death
for every man," and pei'fumed the grave for believers,
He rose ! He rose ! He broke the bars of death !
O the burst gates, crush'd sting, demolish'd throne,
Last gasp of vanquish'd death ! Shout, earth and heaven,
This sum of good to man ; whose nature then
Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb !
Then, then, we rose ; then first humanity
Triumphant, pasa'd the crystal gates of light. Young.
O the depth of the mystery of faith ! O tne breadth, the length, the
height of the love of Christ ! All his stupendous humiliation from his
Father's bosom, through the virgin's womb, to the accursed tree ; all
his astonishing exaltation, from the dust to the grave, and the sorrows
of hell to the joys of heaven, and the highest throne of glory ; all this
immense progress of incarnate love, — -all, all is ours ! His mysterious
incarnation re-unites and endears us to God ; his natural birth procures
our spiritual regeneration ; his unspotted life restores us to a blissful
immortality ; his bitter agony gives us calm repose ; his bloody sweat
washes away our manifold pollutions ; his deep wounds distil the balm
that heals our envenomed sores ; his perfect obedience is our first title
to endless felicity ; his full atonement purchases our free justification ;
his cruel death is the spring of immortal life ; his grave the gate of
heaven ; his resurrection the pledge of glory ; his ascension the
triumphs of our souls ; his sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on
high the earnest of our future coronation and exalted felicity ; and his
prevailing mtercession the inexhaustible fountain of all our blessings.
Come then, conscious sinner, come to the feast of pardoning love ;
taste with us that the Lord is gracious. Let not a false humility detain
thee, under pretence that " thou art not yet humbled and broken enough
for sin." Alas ! who can humble thee but Jesus, that says, " Without
me ye can do nothing ?" And how canst thou be broken, but by falling
upon this chief comer Stone ? If humiliation and contrition are parts
of the salvation which he merited for thee, is it not the quintessence of
self righteousness to attempt to attain them without him ? Away then,
for ever away, with such a dangerous excuse !
Nor let the remembrance of thy sins keep thee from the speediest
application to Jesus for grace and pardon. What ! though thy crimes
are of the deepest dye and most enormous magnitude ; though they are
innumerable as the sand on the sea shore, and aggravated by the most
uncommon and horrid circumstances ; yet thou needest not despair : he
has " opened a fountain for sin" of every kind, " and uncleanness" of
every degree : " his blood cleanses from all siq."
He is a Redeemer most eminently fitted, a Saviour most completely
qualified to restore corrupt, guilfy, apostate, undone mankind ; the
vilest of the vile, the foulest of the foul, not excepted. He is Almighty,
and therefore perfectly able to restore lapsed powers, root up inveterate
habits, and implant heavenly tempers. He is love itself; compassionate,
mercifiil, pardoning love, become incarnate for thee. And shall he,
SEEKERS FOR SALVATION. 359
that spared not his own Hfe but delivered himself up for us all, — shall
he not with his own blood also freely give us all things !
Behold, O behold him with the eye of thy faith ! cruelly torn with
various instruments of torture, he hangs aloft on the accursed tree,
between two of the most execrable malefactors ; and there, insulted
more than they, he bears our infamous load of guilt. " He knows no
sin," and yet " he is made sin tor us :" he " becomes a curse to redeem
us from the curse of the law ; his oa\ii self bears our sins in his own
body on the tree ; he is wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for
our iniquities j the chastisement of our peace is upon him. God hath
laid on him the miquity of us all, and with his stripes we are healed."
See, Pardon for lost sinners is written with pointed steel and
streaming blood on his pierced hands and feet ; the double flood issuing
from his wounded side more than seals the dear-bought blessing : the
hand writing against us is nailed to his cross and blotted out with his
precious blood ; his open arms invite, draw, and welcome returning
prodigals ; and there encircled, the worst of simaers raay find a safe
and delightful retreat, a real and present heaven.
O sinner, let thy heart fly thither on the wings of eager expectation
and impetuous desire. By all that is near, dear, and sacred to thee, —
fly from eternal death, — fly for eternal life. The law, violated by ten
thousand transgressions, pursues then with ten thousand curses : the
sword of Divine vengeance flames over thy devoted head : sin, the sting
of death, has been a thousand times shot into thy wretched breast ; its
subtle and dire poison continually works in thy hardened or distressed
heart : guilt, the sting of sin, the never-dying worm, perpetually be-
numbs thy stupid soul or gnaws thy restless conscience : raging lusts,
those sparks of the Are of hell, which nothing but the blood of the cross
can quench ; or Jicrce ■passions, those flashes of infernal lightning, that
portend an impending sioi-m, frequently break out in thy benighted soul ;
a heart-felt pledge of tormenting flames : Satan, whom thou hast perhaps
invoked by horrid imprecations, goes about as a roaring lion, seekuig to
ensnare his careless votaiy, or devour his desperate worshipper : death
levels his pointed s{)ear at thy thoughtless or throbbing heart : hell itself
is moved from beneath to meet thee at thy coming ; and the grave gapes
at thy feet, ready to close her hideous mouth upon her accursed prey.
Fly then, miserable sinner, if thy flesh is not brass, and thou canst
not dwell with everlasting burnings, fly for shelter to the bloody cross
of Jesus. There thou wilt meet " llim who was, and is, and is to come :"
" Immanuel, God with us," who appeared as the Son of man, to " make
his soul an offering for sin," for thj/ sin ; and saved thy life from destruc-
tion by losing his own in pangs, which made the sun turn pale, shook
the earth, and caused the shattered graves to give up their dead.
He is even now near to thy heart ; he stands at the door and gently
knocks by the word of his grace. If thou hearest his voice, and openest
by belieA'ing, he will come in ; the word of reconciliation shall be
powerfully ingrafted in thy heart ; thou shalt know, experimentally
know the truth, and the truth shall make thee free. Assured that he
hath by himself purged thy sins, abolished death, and brought life and
immortality to light through the Gospel, thou shalt sup with him and he
with thee ; thou shalt eat the bread of God which came down from
360 AN ADDRESS TO EAHKEST
heaven to give life to a perishing world. Evangelical triUh, received by
faith, will heal, nourish, comfort, and sanctify thy soul.
But perhaps thy guilty heart receives no consolation from these lines.
Thou still considerest Christ only as a severe lawgiver, or as an inflexi-
ble judge ; and not as the " propitiation for thy sins," and thy gracious
all-prevailing advocate with the Father. O, how dost thou wrong both
him and thyself by such false conceptions ! And how soon would thy
gloomy fears give place to triumphant joy, if thy thoughts of him cor-
responded with his gracious designs concerning thee !
Wouldest thou know him better, behold him through tlie glass of his
word, and not through the mist of thy fears ; and thou wilt see that, far
from watching over thee for evil, he fixes upon thee the piercing eye of
his redeeming love ; waits that he may be gracious to thy soul, and
calls, continually calls for thee. O ! if thou hast an ear, listen ; and as
thou listenest, wonder at the kind, reviving words which proceed out of
his mouth.
VI.* " Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," says the Lord ; " speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is ac-
complished, and her iniquity is pardoned ; for in me she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins : he is well pleased for my
righteousness' sake ; I have magnified the law, and made it honourable ;
I have been lifted up, and now I draw all men unto me. My delights
are with the sons of men, and therefore am I exalted, that I may have
mercy upon them. Behold, I come with a strong hand, my reward is
with me, and my work before me. Every valley shall be exalted, every
mountain and hill shall be made low ; the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain ; my glory shall be revealed, and
all tlesh shall see it together.
" Hearken unto me, ye stout hearted, that are far from righteousness ;
I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far oft", and my salvation
shall not tarry. Seek ye me while I may be found, call upon me while
I am near : return unto me, and I will have mercy upon you ; and though
ye have only done evil before me from your youth, I will abundantly
pardon : for my thoughts are not revengeful as your thoughts, nor my
ways unloving as your ways : in me you shall be saved with an ever-
lasting salvation.
" Come, therefore, unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest : my yoke is easy, my burden light, and my rest
glorious. Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat all that can I'evive, strengthen,
and deUght your souls ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money
* This part of the address is almost literally transcribed from the Scripture,
and it is designed for none but mourners in Sion, dejected sinners, who are back-
ward to come to Christ, tliat they may have life. These want " line upon line,"
and invitation upon invitation ; and it is well if, after all, they are encouraged to
come. As for full souls, I know they will loathe this honeycomb. But while
they complain, " It has too many cells, and they are filled with tlie same thing,"
some poor hungry hearts will say, " 'One thing is needful' for us. We cannot
have too much virgin honey : its sweetness makes amends for the want of
variety. If the manna falls abundantly round our tents, it will stir us up to
praise, and not to murmur. Fulness of the bread of life will not make us wax
fat and kick like Jeshuruii, but bless God for his rich profusion ; and with the
disciples, we shall even ' gather the fragments, that nothing be lost.' "
SEEKERS FOR SALVATIOX. 361
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which
is not bread, and your labour for that which satisiieth not ? Hearken
diligently unto me, eat that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and your
soul shall hve : I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the
sure mercies of David, and you shall all know me from the least to the
greatest ; for I will forgive your iniquity, and remember your sin no
more.
" O, if thou knewest tlie gift of God, wretched sinner, and who it is
that saith unto thee. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink,
thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water; a well, a fountain of it would have sprung up in thee unto ever-
lasting life ; yea, out of thy belly, thy imnost soul, rivers of livmg water,
the greatest abundance of the purest joy, would have flowed for ever. I,
even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake, and
will not remember thy sins : I will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy
soul in drought ; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, or like a spring
of water, whose waters do not fail.
" O how often would I have gathered thee, in years past, as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings ! How often would 1 have led thee
as an eagle fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh
them, and beareth them ! but thou wouldest not. Nevertheless, this is
still the day of my power, mei'cy, and love : I pardon those whom I
reserve, and I will yet be pacified toward thee, for all that thou hast
done. I was angry with thee, but mine anger is turned away ; my
thoughts toward thee are thoughts of peace, and I am become thy salva-
tion. Come, then, let us now reason together, and though thy sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; though they be red like crim-
son, they shall be as wool."
Why does not thy drooping heart, O sinner, leap for joy, or melt with
gratitude at these tender invitations of thy Saviour ? Thinkest thou they
do not belong to thee ? Dost thou suppose that Jesus, who is all purity
and holiness, must turn away with abhorrence from such a guilty, pol-
luted, and abominable creature as thou art ? One so void of all good,
so full of all evil, so completely lost and undone as thou seest thyself?
Art thou afraid that thy relapses into sin have been so frequent, and thy
backshdings so multiplied, that hope, which comes to all, can no more
come to thee ? Or does the enemy of thy soul suggest, thou art careless,
hardened, and sunk in stupid unbelief? Does he insinuate thou hast so
long trifled with Divine grace, art gone such lengths in horrid wicked-
ness, or hast contracted such unconquerable habits of indulging thy
carnal mind, or following thy vain imaginations, that infinite mercy can
no longer pardon thy sins, or infinite power change thy nature? Art
thou even tempted to believe thou hast committed the sin against the
Holy Ghost, and art almost, if not altogether, given up to a reprobate
mind ? O ! check those gloomy, despairing thoughts ; resist the devil,
and give place to more true and honourable sentiments of Jesus.
Wherefore dost thou doJibt, O thou of little faith ? Is any thing too
hard for the Lord ? Are not all things possible with God ? Can the Al-
mighty, who became incarnate to die as man in thy place, want either
ability or willingness to help thee, be thy case ever so deplorable and
362 AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
desperate ? Is not darkness or light, sickness or death, all one to Him,
who is " the Light of the world, and the Prince of life ;" and who, with
a word or a touch, raised the dead, whether they were yet wai-m on a
bed, cold in a coffin, or already putrefied in a grave ?
Confine not then, poor dejected sinner, thy Saviour's boundless mercy
within the narrow limits of thy unbelieving thoughts. Get Scriptural
views of his pardonmg love, and true discoveries of his redeeming power.
To guess aright at the prodigious extent of his mercy, lift up the dim
eyes of thy struggling faith, and behold a great multitude, which no
man can number, standing before the throne, with their robes washed
and made white in the blood of the Lamb.
Among those countless monuments of Divine mercy, those illustrious
trophies of fi-ee grace, see David, who, after having been admitted to
close communion with God, plunged for ten months in the horrible guilt
of adultery, treachery, hypocrisy, and murder. See Paul, once so
fierce an enemy to the truth, so fiery a blasphemer of Jesus, so raging
a persecutor of the saints, that his very breath was " threatenings and
slaughter against them !" See Peter, who, after a great profession of faith-
fulness, and upon an apparently sUght temptation, denied three times his
Master, his Saviour, and his God, in his very presence. Peter, guilty
of lying, cursing, and perjury, immediately after he had been apprized
of the imminent temptation, and armed against it, both by receiving the
holy sacrament at our Lord's own hand, and being admitted to see his
wonderful agony, and glorious miracles. Tliese, and thousands more,
agree to tell thee " for this cause we obtained mercy, that in us first
Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them
which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting."
If all these witnesses do not silence thy doubts, and encourage thy
hopes, Jesus himself, the faithful and true witness, will yet plead the
cause of his dying love against thy unbelieving fears : thy gracious
Advocate with God will yet be God's condescending Advocate with thee.
O ! let thy clamorous conscience keep silence while he preaches to
thee the everlasting Gospel of his grace. And if to-day thou hearest
his voice, harden not thy heart, come out of the cave of unbelief, wrap
thyself in the mantle of Divine mercy, and worship the pardoning God,
the God of never- failing truth and everlasting love.
Gracious Saviour ! make thine own words spirit and life to the soul
thou hast formed by thy breath, and purchased with thy blood. Blessed
Comforter ! while thy precious sayings strike the eyes of this hopeless
reader, let the love which thou sheddest abroad, soften, melt, and revive
his poor, oppressed heart, and let salvation come this day to the house
of a son or daughter of Abraham ! A touch, a breath from thee will
break the bars of iron, burst the gates of brass, and make the everlast-
ing doors lift up their heads, that the King of glory may come in.
" Who is this King of glory ? Who is this that cometh from Edom,
with dyed garments from Bozrah ? This that is glorious in his apparel,
travelling in the gi-eatness of his strength ?
" I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I have trodden the
wine press alone ; mine own arm hath brought salvation unto me, salva-
tion for the lost : it is gone forth : my righteousness is near ; the isles
shall wait on me, and on my arm shall they trust. The Spirit of the
SEEKERS FOn SALVATION. 363
Lord God is upon me: he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to
the meek : he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim
hberty to the captives, and the o])ening of the prison to them that are
bound ; to comfort all that mourn, and, by the blood of the covenant, to
send tbrth the prisoners out of the pit where there is no water.
" Fear not, therefore, thou worm Jacob ; I am the first and the last,
lie that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Yes,
I ever live to make intercession for thee ; and because I live, thou shalt
live also. All power is given, all judgment is committed unto me in
heaven and earth : I have the keys of death and hell : a Jonah, who
cries to me out of the very belly of hell, is not out of the reach of my
gi-acious and omnipotent arm.
" Who art thou that hast feared continually every day, because of the
fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy ? I, even I, am He
that comforteth thee. I bring glad tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. I have triumphed over all thine enemies on the cross. I
have led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, even the promise
of the Father, that the Lord God the Spirit may dwell in them. At my
command the great, the evangelical trumpet is blown ; and they that
are ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land
of Egypt, do come, and are welcome to Mount Sion. Hasten with them,
thou captive exile, hasten to mo that thou mayest be loosed, and that
thou shouldest not die in the horrible pit of thy natural state.
" Thy helplessness is no hinderance to my loving kindness : I break
not the bruised reed, I quench not the smoking flax: I uphold all that
fall, I raise up all those that are bowed down : I say to the prisoners.
Go forth ; and to them that are in darkness. Show yourselves : I
strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees : I say to them
that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not ; behold, I will come with
vengeance and a recompense ; I will come and save you.
" My tender mercies are over all my works. When the poor and
needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst,
I the Lord will hear them ; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in high places ; I will make tlie wilderness a pool,
and the dry land springs of water.
" It is true thou hast sinned with a high hand, both against thy hght
and against my love ; but how shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? How
shall I deliver thee, sinner ? How shall I make thee as Admah, and set
thee as Zeboim, those rebellious cities on which I poured my flaming
vengeance ? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled
together. I will not destroy thee ; lor I am God and not man. I have
seen thy ways, and will heal and lead thee, and restore comfort to thee ;
for I create the fruit of the lips. Peace ! peace to him that is afar oft',
and to him that is near ; I will heal him.
" Thou hast not chosen me, but I have chosen thee ; thou art my
servant ; fear not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. My strength is sufficient for thee ; I will help thee ; yea, I will
uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. They that war
against thee shall be as nothing ; for I the Lord thy God will hold thy
right hand, and make my strength perfect in thy weakness. 1 will
bring thee by a way thou hast not known. I will make darkness light
364 AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
before thee, and crooked paths straight. When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee ; and when thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee ;
for I am the Lord, thy Saviour, and thy God. I have carried thee
from the womb, and even to hoary hairs will I bear and deliver thee.
" Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted and dninken, but not with
wine ; I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth ; lest
the spirit should fail before me, and the soul which I have made. I turn
the water of affliction into the wine of consolation. Behold, I take out
of thy hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury ;
thou shalt no more drink it again : I will put it into the hand of them
that afflict thy soul : and in the room of it I give thee the cup of the
New Testament in my blood, shed for the remission of sins : it is now
ready, draw near, drmk thou of it, and taste that I am gracious.
" Come near, that I may speak a word in season to thy weary spirit.
Why standest thou afar ofi"? Come near, I say, that my soul may bless
thee. Let me show thee my glory, and proclaim my soul-reviving name :
The Lord ! the Lord God ! merciful and gracious, long suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and for-
giving iniquity, transgression, and sin ! Let me wash thy heart from
iniquity, guilty sinner ; for unless I wash thee, thou hast no part with
me. Unless thou art born again of water and of the Spirit, thou canst
not see the kingdom of God : but this is the covenant of promise
which I make with thee : I will sprinkle clean water upon thee, and
thou shalt be clean ; a new heart will I give thee, and a new spirit, even
my own Spirit, will I put whhin thee, -and thou shalt be completely bom
of God ; and at that day thou shalt know that I am in the Father, and
thou in me, and I in thee.
" Who is he that condemneth ? It is I who died for thy sins, yea,
rather, who rose again for thy justification, who am even at the right
hand of God, who also make intercession for thee. The same compas-
sionate love that made me weep over ungratefiU Jerusalein, and gi'oan
over dead Lazarus, made me bleed and die for thee. O that, in this
thy day, thou mayest know the things that belong unto thy peace, and
the efhcacy of that sacrifice by which I have for ever perfected them
that are sanctified ! O that imbelief, so injurious to me, and so perni-
cious to thee, may no longer hide my love from thine eyes !
" What ! afraid of my purity, art thou ready to cry out as my apos-
tle, Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man ? And dost thou
tremble at my words as a criminal at the sentence of his judge ? O be
of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. Am not I thy hght and strength,
thy shield and buckler, thy tower and restmg place, thy strong hold,
whereunto thou mayest always resort, thy castle and fortress, the horn
also of thy salvation, and thy refuge ? As for thy sins, if thou desirest
to part with them, they will no more hinder me from visiting thee, than
the sickness of a patient prevents a physician from giving him his
attendance.
" I know thou art a sinner — a great smner : for this cause came I
down from heaven to Bethlehem, — to Gethsemane, — to Calvary. I
know thine iniquities are more in niunber than the hairs of thy head ;
like a sore burden, they are too lieavy lor thee to bear : and therefore
SEEKERS FOR SALVATION. 365
have I borne them for thee in my o^vn body on the tree. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance : I am the man tliat re-
ceiveth sinners, and eateth with them : I am the friend of returning
publicans and harlots ; all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be for-
given them through faith in my blood : God was in me, reconciling the
world unto hunself, not imputing their trespasses unto them ; and now,
I beseech thee, be Ihou (for one) reconciled to God ; for in me God is
reconciled to tJiee, thy sin is covered, and thine iniquity forgiven.
" Great as thy crimes are, poor mourner in Zion, I upbraid thee not
with them ; my infinitely meritorious sacrifice hath long ago atoned for
their heinousness, and now I cast the mantle of my pardoning love over
their multitude ; thou art ashamed of them, and shall I be ashamed of
thee ? Far be the thought from thee ; I glory in extending my bound-
less mercy to such miserable objects as thou art. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that I came into the world
to save sinners : and if, with my servant Paul, thou seest thyself the
chief of them, let me do the chuf part of the errand on which I came ;
look unto me, — partake with him of my richest, salvation, — lose thy
cares in the bosom of my mercy, — and receive the atonement I made
for thee ; but receive it now : for I have heard thee in a time accepted,
and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee : behold, jioiv is the
accepted time ; behold, iicno is the day of salvation, the day in which I
bind up the breach of my people, and heal the stroke of their wound.
" Whence arise, O poor sinner, thy backwardness and misgivings ? I
have ransomed thee fioni the power of the grave, and thou art mine : I
come to heal thee, and to reveal to thee the abundance of peace and
truth : I bring thee a cui-e for thy wounded conscience, and saving
health for thy sin-distempered soul !
" In a little WTath, and for a small moment, I have hid my face from
thee ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee ; for I
am the Lord thy Redeemer. Believe it, and faith will work by love,
and love will cast out fear : thus shalt thou take hold of my strength,
that thou mayest make peace with me ; and thou shalt make peace with
me, for 1 am strength to the needy in his distress, a hiding place from
the wind, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
"Come, then, be not of them that drawback from rne to perdition,
but of them who believe to the saving oi" the soul. Far from casting
away thy little confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, hold
it fast ; resist even unto blood, stri\ ing against the damning sin of unbe-
Hef ; trust in me tor ever, for in me, Jehovah thy righteousness, is ever-
lasting strength ; and let me no longer complain that thou (one of my
oppressed people in spiritual EgN^it) wilt have none of me, and wilt not
even come to me, that thou mightest have lite more abundantly.
" Not by works of rtgliteousness which thou hast done, but according
to my mercy 1 saved thee. 1 am the Lamb slain tiom the foundation
of the world. What my gracious purpose planned before time, I have
executed in time. My hte and death have completed the wonderful
bridge by which thou canst go over the great deep fixed between a holy
God and thy sinful soul. Concerning a main arch of this mjgh<v work,
with one of my last breaths I said. It is finished ; and I now confirm
366 AN ADDRESS TO EARNEST
the glad tidings with regard to the whole. With my right hand, and
with my holy arm, I have gotten myself the victory, and parted for thee,
not the waves of the Red Sea, but the dreadfld billows of the fiery gulf.
And now I return to see thee safe over. Leave only the world and sin
behind ; and, walking by faith, follow me through the regeneration to a
throne of glory.
" Whence arises, sinner, this backwardness to trust in my promise,
and venture after me ? Dost thou suspect the sincerity of my tenders
of grace ? And by thinking that I secretly except thee from my mercy,
when I offer it to thee openly, dost thou still make me a dissembler, a
liar ? O wrong me not so far ; I am the Truth itself; I abhor dissimu-
lation in my creatures : and I, that say a man should not use deceit,
shall I use deceit ? Shall I have concord with Belial ? Shall there be
an agreement between the faithfid Witness, and the father of lies ? Shall
I sentence him that loveth a lie to the lake that burneth with fire and
brimstone, and be guilty of making one myself? Horrible to suppose !
Reject the blasphemous thought, simier : it w'ounds me in the ten-
derest part.
" No, no, I do not put on a mask of pretended love, to hide a rancor-
ous, unforgiving temper ; the general invitation that fonnerly passed my
lips, is still the very language of my heart. Whosoever will, let him
come and take of the water of life fieely ; and the promise which 1 for-
merly made, is still firmer than the pillars of heaven. Him that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out. Let these words, like incorruptible
seed, beget thee again to a lively hope, and help thee to stir thyself up
to lay hold on me and my great salvation.
" I grant, that no man cometh unto me except the Father draw him ;
but does he not say, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore,
with loving kindness, with the cords of a man, \nth the bands of love,
have I drawn thee ? Does he not draw thee even now ? Who stirs
thee up to repentance ? W^ho raises in thee a desire of coming unto
me by prayer ? Who indulges thee at times with sweet hopes and
alluring jo} s, to encourage thee to come ? Is it not my Father and
thine, thou poor starving prodigal ? And that nothing may be wanting
on his part to make thee come, to drawing does he not add driving ?
Does he not obstruct all thy prospects of creature happiness, and blast
all thy worldly, yea, and all thy self-righteous schemes ? And while he
touches thy heart with the rod of distress, docs he not lay the scourge of
affliction on thy back, and put this gracious invitation in thy hand?
Away, then, with thy hard thoughts of my Father ; he and 1 are the
flame of eternal love : I and the Father are one.
" Neither say thou in thy heart. This is a day of trouble, rebuke, and
blasphemy ; the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength
to bring forth. Shall I bring to the birth, and not give strength accord,
ing to the day ? Dost thou fear that my zeal, my strength, and the
sounding of my bowels toward thee are restrained ? Am not I Jesus
still ? Is my love waxed cold, that it carmot pity ? Is my hand short-
ened at all, that it cannot save ? Is mine ear heavy, that it cannot
hear ? Or iiave I no power to deliver ? IJchold, at my rebuke I dry
up the sea ; 1 clothe the heavens with blackness ; and if in the greates*^
storm I say to the raging billows, Be still ! there is a great calm : feat
SEEKKRS FOR SALVATION. 367
not then : the zeal of the Lord of Hosts, — my zeal, will do this, and
more, for thy soul ; yea, I will do for thee exceeding abundantly above
all that thou canst ask or think.
" I see what passes in thy heart, O thou unwise and slow of heart to
believe all that 1 and my prophets have spoken : I read thy new excuses.
Thou sayest thou dost not suspect me, my faithfuhicss, and my power ;
but thyself, thy helplessness, and the treachery of thy own desperately
wicked heart. What, shall this sore evil hinder thee from coming to
me, who alone can remedy it ? Wilt thou pray to be excused from be-
lieving on such an account as this .' O drop this last, this most absurd
plea, and walk in the steps of the faith of thy father Abraham, Rom. iv, 16.
Consider not the deadness and hardness of thy heart, but the reviving,
softening love of mine ; not tliy want of power, but my omnipotence ;
not the suggestion of Satan, but the declarations of my Gospel. Wrestle
not only against flesh and blood, but against the powers of internal dark-
ness, ajid the spiritual wickedness of aji unbelieving thought. Strive to
enter in at the strait gate of faith. Against hope believe in hope, that I
quicken the dead, and call the things which are not as though they were.
Stagger no more at my promises through unbelief, but be strong in faith,
and give glory to God, by being fully persuaded that what I promise, I
am able and willing to perform.
" In me thou mayest find the richest and readiest supply of all thy
wants : I am both the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the living :
he that beheveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and he
that hveth and beheveth in me shall never die. Believe then, and thou
shalt not come into condenuiation. Believe, and thou shalt receive
power ; thou shalt see the gloiy of God ; thoii shalt be established ; yea,
and sealed with the Holy Spirit of pi'omise. Believe, and thou hast
everlasting life, and shalt not come into condemnation. Beheve, and a
gram of faith will remove mountains of guilt and unbelief. Believe
with all thy heart : all things are possible to him that beheveth, and he
shall inherit all promises ; for to him that overcometh, (and faith is the
victory,) will I give to eat of the hidden mamia, and to sit with me on
my throne ; as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on
his throne. Only believe, then, and through faith thou shalt subdue the
kingdom of darkness, work righteousness, obtain promises, stop the
mouth of the roai'ing lion, quench the violence of temptiition's fire,
escape the flaming point of Satan's darts, out of weakness be made
strong, wax vahant in fight, turn to flight the armies of thy spiritual
adversaries, and receive thy dead soul raised to life again.
' " Thou hast played with the fiery serpents ; they have bitten thy heart,
but I have ah'eady sucked the worst of the mortal poison. In the peril-
ous attem[tt my soul was seized with sorrow even unto death ; and an
unheard-ol' agony, attended with a bloody sweat, came u[)on my body.
A racking cross was the bed I was stretched upon : shar[) thorns proved
the pillow on which I rested my iiiinting- head. The bitterest sarcasms
were my consolations ; vinegar and gall my cordials ; a band of bloody
soldiers the cruel wretches appointed to tear open my veins ; whips,
nails, hammers, and a spear, the instruments allowed Ihem (o do the
dreadful operation. For hours I bled imder their merciless hands ; and
thy fearful curse, O shmcr, flowed together with my blood. In the
368 AN ADDRESS TO EAR^'EST
meantime noonday light was turned into the gloom of night, a dire em-
blem of the darkness that overspread my agonizing soul ; and at Uist,
Avhile earthquakes rocked me into the sleep of death, I gave up the
ghost with cries that astonished my bitterest enemies, and made them
smite their breasts in pangs of involuntary sympathy. ITius, to make
thee partaker of my savmg health, I took the shameful and painful
consequences of thy mortal distemper upon me. And now, simier,
despise no more such amazing love, requite it with a believing look.
Consider my wounds till thy conscience feels their wonderful effect.
Behold my atoning blood till thou canst witness it heals all thy
infirmities.
" Knowing the terrors of the Lord, I persuade men. Come, thou
poor prisoner of hope, turn by faith to the strong hold of my protection.
Up ! for God will destroy this Sodom, the wicked world where thou
lingerest. Up ! for the great and terrible day of the Lord approaches.
As I live, there is but one step between thee and death, and another
between death and hell.
" Let my love even constrain thee to arise, and to follow me, that I
may receive thee unto myself, and complain no longer that, with respect
to thee, I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought.
Surely, sinner, I deserve thy grateful love, for I have fought thy fiercest
enemies. Dreadful was the battle ! My flesh was torn, my blood spilt,
my life lost in the obstinate combat : but I have slain the lion and the
bear. I have vanquished death and the grave, and rescued thy poor,
helpless soul ; and now let thy good Shepherd rejoice over his lost sheep ;
let gratitude compel thee to come into the fold of my Church, and join
the little flock of my faithful followers. And if thou canst not come, do
but look wishfully at me, and I will lay thee on my shoulders rejoicing,
and carry thee in triumph into the richest pastures of my grace.
" Once more I turn supphant ; once more I stand at the door and
knock. Saul ! Saul ! it is hard for thee to kick against the sharp goads
of my love. Martha ! Martha ! one thing is needful, choose the good
part, choose me. O Absalom, my son ! my son ! give me thy heart ;
I have died for thee ; do not crucify me afresh : lay down the spear of
imbelief, and thine is my grace, my glory, my kingdom, the kingdom
of heaven.
" Be not afraid to surrender ; rebellious as thou art, I love thee still :
can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have com-
passion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget, yet I will not
forget thee. If thou wilt not take my word, believe my oath : because
I can swear by no greater, I swear by myself: As I live, I have no
pleasure in the death of Hie wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way
and live. Turn, then, turn unto me, for I have redeemed thee : I have
cast all thy sins into the depths of the sea, and will subdue all thy
iniquities.
" And if thou canst not believe my oath, credit these scars. See, I
have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Long, too long have I
waited for thy return, thou poor, wandering, weary prodigal. Let me
see in thee the travail of my soul, and be satisfied. By the mystery of
my holy incarnation and dreadful temptation, by my agony and bloody
sweat, by my infamous death and glorious resurrection, 1 beseech thee,
SEEKERS FOR SALVATIO^^ 369f
come to tlie pardoning God by me. If thou hast nothmg to pay, I for.
give thee all the debt : whether it be fifty or five hundred pence, or ten
thousand talents, I frankly forgive thee all. Only let me heal thy back-
slidings, and love thee freely ; let my left: hand be under thy head, and
let my right hand embrace tiiee. See the wounds which I have received
for thee in the house of my friends ! Reach liither thy finger, and be-
hold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side,
and be not faithless, but believing. Cleave to me with full purpose of
heart, follow me through the regeneration, and thou shalt not only be
one of my jewels, but a crown of glory, and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God : yea, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so will I
rejoice over thee, and give thee a name better than that of son and
daughter : — I, the Holy One of Israel, will be thy hfe and glory : — I,
thy Maker, will be thy husband and thy all."
And are these, O sinner, the gracTous sayings of God to thee ? Tlie
compassionate expostulations of God become incarnate for thee ? Did
God so love thee as to set forth his only begotten Son, as a propitiation
through faith in his blood, thus to declare his righteousness, for the
remission of sins that are past ? May the Almighty now be just, and yet
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus? Is there no difference, no
respect of persons with him ? And is the same Lord over all, rich unto
all that call upon him ? Then shout, ye heavens ! triumph, thou earth !
and thou, happy sinner, know the day of thy visitation : be wise, ponder
these things, and thou shalt understand the loving kindness of the Lord.
Be no longer afraid that it will be presumption in thee to beheve, and
that God will be ofl^ended with thee if thou makest so free with Jesus, as
to wash instantly in the fountain of his atoning blood. He not only gives
thee LEAVE to believe, but he i?\"\'ites thee to "do it freely." Nay, he
COMMANDS thee to beheve, for "this is his cojoiandmext, that we should
beheve on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." He even enforces the pre-
cept by a double promise, that if thou believest, thou " shalt not perish, but
have everlasting life." And that nothing may be wanting to stir thee up to
this important business, he is gracious enough to threaten the neglect of
it with the most dreadful punishment ; for " he that believeth not shall
not enter into his rest," and " shall be damned ;" and he that to the end
remains " fearfijl and unbelieving, shall be cast into the lake that burneth
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." How canst thou
doubt, then, whether thou art welcome to receive " the Son given," by
believing on his name ?
Come to him just as thou art, and he will make thee what thou
shouldst be. When he comisels thee to buy of him the gold of faith,
and the gannent of salvation, take him at his Gospel word : come, with-
out regarding thy stuff" ; the poorer thou art the better : the oil of his
grace flows most abundantly into empty vessels : his charity is most
glorified in the relief of the most miserable objects : his royal bounty
scorns the vile compensation of thy wretched merits : he sells hke a
king, like the King of kings, without money and without price. "Ask
and have," and " take freely," are the encouraging mottoes written upon
all the unsearchable treasures of his grace.
Be of good comfort, then ! Arise, he calleth thee ! Stretch out thy
withered hand, and he will restore it : open thy mouth wide, and he will
Vol. Hi. 24
370 AIV ADDRESS TO KARNEST
fill it : bring an empty vessel, a poor hungry heart, and he will give into
thy bosom good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and rumiing
over.
And now, what meanest thou, sleeper? Why tarriest thou? Arise,
and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Lose not
time in conferring with flesh and blood ; much less in parleying with
Satan, or consulting thy unbelieving heart : here delays lead to ruin :
the Philistines are upon thee, instantly shake thyself. If thou art not
altogether blinded by the god of this world, and led captive by him
at his will, this moment, in the powerful name of Jesus, burst the bonds
of spiritual sloth: break, like a desperate soul, out of the prison of un-
belief: escape for thy life : look not behind thee : stay not in all the
plain. This one thing do ; leaving the things that are behind, Sodom
and her ways, press forward toward Zoar, and escape to the mount of
God, lest thou be consumed. By Tlie new and living way consecrated
for us, in full assurance of faith, fly to the Father of mercies, pass
through the crowd of Laodicean professors, press through the opening
door of hope, take the kingdom of heaven by violence.
With halting, yet wrestling Jacob, say to the Friend of sinners, " I
w'ill not let thee go, unless thou bless me." If he makes as it" he would
go farther ; with the two mournful disciples, " constrain him to stay ;"
or rather, with the distressed woman of Canaan, follow " him whither-
soever he goeth ;" take no denial : through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh, torn trom the crown of his head to the sole of his feet ; through
this mysterious veil, rent from the top to the bottom, rush into the blood-
besprinkled sanctuary ; embrace the horns of the golden altar ; lay all
thy guilt on the head of the sin-atoning victim ; read thy name on the
breast of thy merciful High Priest ; claim the safety, demand the bless-
ings, receive the consolations, bestowed on all that flee to him for refuge;
and begin a new, delightful life, under the healing and peaceful shadow
of his wings. !
But perhaps thou art now devoid of active power, and broken in s[)irit.
The hurry of thy self-righteous nature subsides. Wounded and hnlf
dead, thou liest in the way of misery, waiting for the passing by of thy
heavenly Deliverer. Thou hadst set thy heart upon being blessed in
one particular manner, and God in liis wisdom thinks it best to bless thee
in another. Thou wouldest scale the New Jerusalem and storm heaven ;
but he chooses it should come down into thy soul as a fruitful shower
descends into a fleece of wool. Be still, then, and know that he is God.
Let him break thy self will, which hides itself inider godly appearances ;
and let him practically teach thee that salvation is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy.
Meekly dive into the amazing depths of these words, " In quietness
and rest shall be your strength. Stand still, and see the salvation of
God." The fire, tlie earthquake, and the rending of the rocks are over ;
silence takes place, the still small voice u ill soon follow. Thou art for
a time taken from the foaming billoAvs ol" self agitation, and led by the
still waters : a calm succeeds the impetuous storm, and a passive waiting
thy restless, fruitless endeavours. Thou art in the case of one fallen
into the sea, who, having struggled long and hard to escape drowning,
ia obliged to yield at last. Yield then, weary siiuier, yield to thy happy
SEEKERS FOR SALVATIOir. 371
fate. Fully surrender to the God of thy life. Entirely abandon thyself
to Jesus. Freely trust him with thy j)resent and eternal salvation.
Whether thou swim or suik, let thyself go into the ocean of mercy.
Catch at no broken reed by the way, but calmly venture into the un-
fathomable depths of redeeming love. Lose thus thy hfe, and thou shalt
find it. The power of Cod will soon be "made perfect in thy wealcness,"
and when thy strength is renewed, earnestly wrestle again. Thus go
on, alternately striving and waiting, according to the leadings of the
Holy Spirit, till, having passed through all the inferior dispensations of
Divine grace, thou enter by faith into the rest that remains tor the people
of God, and take possession of that kingdom of God, which consists in
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
VII. In that kingdom, happy believer, tlie times of refreshing fully
come from the presence of the Lord ; mercy and love embrace thee on
every side, and thy sprinkled conscience enjoys the peace of a sin -par-
doning God. Then smiling justice, more tiian satisfied by the merito-
rious death of Christ, slioatiies her fiaming sword, and declares, " Thei'e
is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus : they are jus-
tified from all things, and freely forgiven all trespasses." And now thou
art more than conqueror through Him that loved thee. Standing by
humble faith in his omnipotence, tiiou canst do all things, through his
grace strengthening thee. Sin has no doniiuion over thee. The cruel
and bloody tyrant that reigned unto death is dethroned ; and grace, rich
grace, sweetly reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Tiiumph-
ing in Christ over thy fiercest enemies, and putting thy victorious foot
upon the neck of the last, thou challengest his utmost rage, and shoutest,
" O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks
be to God who givelh us the victory, tlirough our Lord Jesus Ciirist !"
Now thou seest and feelest that God is lovu. Thou dwellest in him,
and he in thee. Love, the fulfilling of the law, difiusing itself through
all thy heart, intiuences thy looks, words, and actions, and makes thee
spring after Jesus into the chariot of cheerful obedience. Thy heart is
as his heart ; and while active grace draws thy willing soul along, God's
free Spirit pours the oil of gladness U])on the fervid wheels of thy alTec-
tions. Supported and animated by thy Lord's presence, tliou swiftly
movest, thou delightfully lliest in all the ways of duty ; mountains of
difficulties sink into plains before thee ; wisdom's roughest ways are
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths arc peace.
Now thou rejoiccst to be thought worthy to suffer shame for Christ's
name, and countest it all joy when thou fallest into divers trials. With
him the cross loses its dieadful aspect, and enormous weight. When
thou findcst it in the high way of holiness, instead of consulting with
flesh and blood how thou shalt go aside to avoid it, thou immediately
takest it up, and it proves a comlbi'ting stalf, a never- failing prop.
Christ crucified works this miracle of grace; for him thou receivest
with eveiy cross ; and the moment thou dost so in the power of his Spi-
rit, God, even thy own God, gives thee his choicest blessing ; he crowns
thee witii lo\ ing kindness and tender mercies ; and with the inexpi'essible
complacence of a Father who receives a lost son, with the triumphant
joy of a Saviour who embraces a raised Lazarus, he says to the myriads
that surroiuid his throne, "One more sinner re[)eatetli unto life! Hal-
372 ADDKESS TO SEEKEKS FOR SALVATION.
lelujah ! He hath escaped the avenger of blood ; — he hath passed the
gate of the city of refuge ! Hallelujah ! Shout, ye sons of the morning !
My angels, strike your golden harps ! Dance ever}' heart for joy,
through the realms of heaven ! Let bursts of triumphant mirth, let peal8
of ravishing praise, roll along the transporting news ; — let all your exult-
ing breasts reverberate, let all your harmonious tongues echo back our
glorious joy ! For this my son was dead, and is alive again ! Tliis your
brother was lost, and is tbund t"
And, irradiating thy soul with the light of his reconciled countenance,
he says to thee, from a throne blazing with grace and glory, " Penitent
believer, receive the adoption of a son. Because thou receivest my Son,
my only begotten Son, into thy heart, I admit thee into the family of the
first bom. Be thou blameless and harmless, a son of God without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom I allow
thee to shine as a burning light in a benighted world. Son, all that I
have is thine ; be ever with me, iuid thou shalt inherit all things. Yes,
whether Paul, or ApoUos, or Cephas ; whether my first apostles, or my
choice ministers ; or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or
things to come ; all is thine, for thou art Christ's, and Christ is mine.
As thou hast received him, so abide and walk in him, worthy of me,
unto all pleasing ; being fruitful in every good ^vork, and increasing in
his knowledge, till thy faith is turned to sight, and I am all in all."
Stai't not, believing reader, at these sayings, as if they were too glo-
rious to be credited. They are the true sayings of God. The Lord
himself spoke them for thy comfort. They are the precious pearls wliich
I promised thee out of the unsearchable treasures of Christ. If swine
trample them under their feet, wear thou them on thy breast. Instead
of being offended at their transcendent excellence, magnify the God of
all consolation, who, having " delivered up his own Son for us all, with
him also freely gives us all things :" consequently, the richest mines of
Gospel grace. And, giving vent to the just transports of thy grateful
heart, cry out with the beloved disciple, " Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God ! Unto him who" thus " loved us, and washed us from our sins in
his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests to God and his Father ;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." Amen.
APPENDIX TO APPEAL.
CONCERNING THE EVANGELICAL HARMONY THAT SUBSISTS BETWEEN
LIVING FAITH AND LOVING OBEDIENCE.
The mystery of our salvation is thus opened by St. Paul : "By grace
are ye saved, through faith which workdh by love." This apostolic
declaration subdivides itself into the following propositions, which, on
account of their clearness and importance, may with propriety be called
Gospel AXIOMS. 1. "Ye are saved by ^race." 2. "Ye are saved
through a faith which works by love." These propositions, like two
adamantine pillars, support the whole doctrine of Christ concerning faith
and works, grace and rewardkibleness ; or mercy on God's part, and obe-
dience on our own: — a doctrine which, though clear as the day, has
nevertheless been so obscured by endless controversies, that thousands
of Protestants and Papists know it in its purity no more.
According to the first of these axioms, all that go to heaven give
Divine grace the glory of their salvation ; because they are all saved by
mere favour, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. And accord-
ing to the SECOND axiom, all that go to hell are obliged to clear Divine
justice, because they are condemned merely for their avoidable unbelief,
and obstinate disobedience. Upon this evangelical plan the righteous
are graciously rewarded, and the unrighteous justly punished ; the doc-
trine of God's mercy, in giWng grace for Christ's sake, and of man's
faithfulness in usmg it by Christ's help, sweetly coincide ; and from their
blessed union springs the just proportion of every part of the Gospel.
These axioms are so strongly maintained, and so frequently alluded
to by the sacred writers, that whoever rejects either the one or the other
might reject one half of the Bible. Attentively consider them asunder,
and your unprejudiced reason will perceive their equity. Impartially
compare them together, and instead of finding them incompatible, (aa
some prepossessed persons would persuade us they are,) you will see that
they harmonize, in so exquisite a manner, as to answer the most excel-
lent ends in the world.
To give you an idea of their working in the breast of believers, permit
me to compare them to those two opposite and yet consentaneous mo-
tions of the heart, which anatomists call diastole and systole. The one
forcibly dilates, the other powerfully contracts, that noble part of the
human body ; and both together, by means seemingly contrary, cause
the circulation of the blood, and diffuse vital powers through all the
animal frame. Just so passive faitft and active love. The one perpetu-
ally receives favours from God, the other perpetually bestows them upon
man ; and thus, by continually performing their contrary (not contradic-
tory) offices, they make spiritual hfe circulate throughout the believer's
soul, and enable him to diffuse kindness and good works throughout the
social body of which he is a member.
From the animal we pass to the planetary world ; and we shall see
374 ArPEXDix TO appeal.
.inotlier striking einblein of the harmonious opposition wUicli subsisttJ
between tlie two Gospel axioms. There we eminently discover the cen-
tripftal and the centrifugal force. Though opposed to each other, they
are nevertheless so admirably joined togetiier, that from their exquisite
combination results the harmonious dance of the spheres: I mean, the
circular motion of the planets around the sun, and around each other.
Such is the wonderful effect of evangelical promises and legal precepts,
when they meet in a due proportion, in an u])right heart. The promises,
which are all wrapped up in the first Gospel axiom, powerfully draw
believers to Christ, who is the Sim of righteousness, and the centre of
the Christian system ; the precepts, which the second axiom necessarily
supposes, drive them forward in the straight line of tluty. Being thus
delightfully attracted, and powerfully impelled, like planets of a diiierent
magnitude, in the firmament of the Church, believers ra])idly move in
the orb of evangelical obedience, where the original light of Christ
wavml) shines into their own souls, and their borrowed light mildly gleams
upon their fellow mortals.
If ever you saw a person thus switlly and evenly moving in the im-
mense circle of religious and social duty, freely receivh)g all from his
God, and freely imparting all to his neighbour, you have seen one of the
" stars in the Lord's right hand ;" — you have seen one who practically
holds the two Gospel axioms ; — one who believes as a sinner, and works
as a believer ; — one in w hose heart the doctrines of faith and works,
free grace and free obedience, Div/me faithfulness and human fideliti/, are
justly balanced ; — one who keeps at an eijual distance from the dreadful
rocks upon which Anllnomian believers and anticliristian workers are daily
cast away. In a word, you have seen an adult Christian, a man who
"adorns the doctrine of Christ our Saviour in all things."
If the two Gospel axioms are of such imi)ortm\ce, that the health and
vigour of every Christian flow from the proper union of their power in
his heart, is it not deplorable to see so many people every where rising
against them? Self-conceited moralists violently attack the first axiom,
and selfhumbled solifidians will give the second no quarter. Those
opposed assailants have all, I grant, a zeal for God, but not according to
knowledge ; for the former know not that they rob God o( his glory, and
the latter do not consider that they pour upon him our shame. The one
refuse to acknowledge him the grand Author of our bliss : the other, to
mend the matter, represent him as the grand Contriver of our ruin. Both,
nevertheless, have truth on their side ; but, alas ! it is only a part of the
truth as it is in Jesus ; and truth divided, like an animal cut through the
middle, is dreadtully mangled, if not entirely destroyed.
You are also dcsiretl to observe, judicious reader, that as a just pro-
portion of sail and ballast, next to a favourable wind, makes a ship
sail with speed and safety ; so the just balance of the two Gospel axioms,
next to the Spirit of God, makes a believer run swiftly and safely the
race that is set before him. He does not properly run, he merely hops
in the way of truth, who, discarding one of the Gospel axioms, moves
only upon the other. Antinomian Laodiceans, therefore, and anticliris.
than Pharisees, are equally blamable. For the piety of the /or/Hcr stands
only upon Xhe first axiom ; and the devotion of the latter has no other
basis than the second. The one will hear of nothing but faith ; the
APPENDIX TO EPPEAL. 375
Other will be told of nothing out icorks. But the sound believer is for a
faifh that works riprhteousness.
" Faith unfeigned'' and " obedient love," are of equal importance to
the true Christiim. Tiiose jirccious graces, which answer to the Gospel
axioms, like a well-proportioned pair of heavenly steeds, mutually draw
the steady chariot of his profession across the valleys of discourage-
ment, and over the hills of difficulty which he meets with in his way to
heaven. If I might carry on the allegory, I would observe that all the
advantage wliich the right hand steed has over the other, is, that it is
Jirsf put in the traces ; bvit this is no proof of his superiority, for he will
be taken oft' at the gate of heaven ; and " obedient love" alone shall
have the honour of drawing the Christian's triumphal car through the
realms of glory.
Reader, if in the theory and practice you maintain both Gospel
axioms ; if, instead of setting up the one in opposition to the other, you
stand upon the Scriptural line in which they harmonize ; you have sur-
moimted the greatest difficulty there is in the Christian religion : you
" hold the faith once delivered unto the saints," And now prepare to
contmdfor it : arm yourself for the fight ; for Antinomian believers will
attack you on the left hand, and Pharisaic unbelievers on the right. But
1)6 not afraid of their number ; patiently receive their double fire. They
may gall one another, but they camiot hurt you.
Truth is. great, and love powerful : if you fight under their glorious
baiuiers, though the arrows of contempt, and the brands of calumny,
will fly thick around you, you shall not be dangerously wounded. Only
*' take the shield of faith," with this motto, " By grace I am saved
through faith ;" and quench with it the fiery darts of self-conceited legal-
ists. " Put on the breastplate of righteousness," with this inscription,
" Faith works by righteous love, the mother of good works:" this piece
of celestial armour will keep off the heaviest stroke o^ self •humbled gas.
fellers. And animated by the Captain of your salvation, through the
opposite forces of those ad\ ersarics, urge your evangelically-legal way,
till you exchange " the sword of the Spirit" for a " golden harp," and
your daily cross for a heavenly crown.
Such is the happy medium that the author of this book desires to re-
commend. Some time ago he thought himself obhged to oppose good
mistaken men, who, in their zeal for the first Gospel axiom, wanted to
represent the second as a " dreadful heresy." And now he lets these
papers see the light, not only to prove to the free thinkers of his parish
that ihofrst axiom is highly rational, but to convince the enemies of the
second axiom, that, though he has exposed their mistakes with regard to
toorks, he receives the genuine doctrines of grace as cordially as they ;
and is ready Scrijjturally and rationally to defend salvation by faith,
against the most plausible objections of self-righteous morahsts.
He just begs leave to observe, that the preceding pages guard the
first Gospel axiom ; that the Four Checks to Antinomianism guard chiefly
the second : that the Equal Check to Fharisaism and Anlinomianism
guards both at once ; and that those tracts contain a little system of
practical and polemical divinity, which, it is hoped, stands at an equal
•distance from the errors of moral disbelievers, and immoral believers.
This book is chiefly recommended to disbelieving morahsts, who de-
376 APPENDIX TO APPEAL.
ride the doctrine of salvation by grace tJirough faith in the day of con-
version, merely because they are not properly acquainted with our fallen
and lost estate. And the Checks are chiefly designed for disbelieving
Antinomians, who rise against the doctrine of a behever's salvation by
grace through the works of faith in the great day, merely because they
do not consider the indispensable necessity of evangelical obedience, and
the nature of the day of judgment.
In the Appeal, the careless, self-conceited sinner is awakened and
humbled. In the Address, the serious, humbled sinner is raised up and
comforted. And in the Checks, the foolish virgin is reawakened, the
Laodicean believer reproved, the prodigal son lashed back to his father's
house, and the upright believer animated to mend his pace in the way
of " faith working by love," and " to perfect holiness in the fear of
Ood."
A RATIONAL VINDICATION
THE CATHOLIC FAITH
THE FIRST PART
A VINDICATION OF CHRIST'!? DIVINITY;
TO THE REV. DR. PRIESTLEY
BY JOHN FLETCHER,
VICAR OF MADEI.EY, SALOP.
LEFT IMPERFECT BV THE AUTHOR, AND NOW KEVISED, AND FINISHED,
AT MRS. Fletcher's request.
BY JOSEPH BENSON.
' Unto what, then, were ye bapiiz.^d ?" Acts xiv, 9.
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
1. It seems necessary, here, to acquaint the reader that, as Dr.
Priestley had asserted the doctrine of the trinity to be irralionaJ, and
that of our Lord's divinity to have no foundation either in the Old
Testament or the New ; Mr. Fletcher, in opposition to these assertions,
had intended this work to consist of thi-ec parts ; the first containing a
Rafional Defenre of the Caiholic Faith, res[)ecting the trinity and the
divinity of our Lord ; and the two last, a Vindication of the. Prophets
and Apostles, " from the antichristian service, (as Mr. Fletcher's phrase
is,) to which tlie doctor had pressed them." But being unexpectedly
called to his reward, he Icil them all in a xcfy imperfect state. Even
of this first part (which indeed seems to have been begun after the
others) he had only written the introduction, the first letter, and four
chapters ; and of these the third and fourth seem not to have been
quite iinished.
2. I was in doubt, for some time, whether it would not be best just
to correct the manviscripts and give them to the public in their luifiuished
state ; especially as I could not learn, either froni^,any hints left in
writing, or fi'om any thing he had said to Mrs. Fletclier or any one
else, what plan Mr. Fletcher intended to have pursued in the farther
prosecution of the subject. But after more maturely considering the
matter, it appeared that this would by no means answer the end the
pious author had in view in beginning this work, as he did not seem to
have proceeded far enough to have formed what could be called a
proper vindication of the doctrine of Christ's divinity. It was judged
necessary therefore to carry the argument at least a little farther, in
order that the work might, in some tolerable degree, be com})lete. In
doing this, as I could form no judgment concerning Mr. Fletcher's
intentions, I have been under the necessity of pursuing that plan which
seemed most likely to answer the end proposed ; endeavouring, however,
to preserve such a connection between the part I have added and that
which Mr. Fletclier had written, that the whole might appear one
continued treatise, and not a kind of patchwork.
3. A.s to the style, indeed, the reader will doubtless observe a material
diirerence between that which is Mr. Fletcher's and what I have com-
posed ; and will regret that (with respect to this first part) he must take
leave of so entertaining as well as instructive a writer as the ingenious
author of the Checks, so early as at the conclusion of the fourth chapter,
380 PREFACE.
and join compmiy with one mucii less able to mix the agreeable with
the useful, and render a needful and profitable subject also pleasing.
Truth, however, is oi more consequence than the garb in which it
appears ; and in what I have written I have attended chiefly to that ;
and, therefore, have endeavoured, in imitation of the very pious and
truly reverend author of these unfinished papers, to keep close to the
Scriptures as my guide, and that both with respect to sentiment and
expression. It seems to me to be a dangerous thing, especially in a
subject of such importance, concerning which we can know nothing but
by Divine revelation, to depart from the Bible, or to go a hair's breadth
farther than God hath therein plauily revealed, or than we can fairly
infer from what he hath so revealed. I am fully persuaded that most
of the errors and controversies which have darkened, perplexed, and
divided the Church in all ages, respecting this matter, have arisen from
a desire to be wise above what is written, not being contented with the
information God hath seen fit to give us in his holy word, the sole rule
of faith as well as practice.
4. It is undoubtedly a most desirable thing to know as much as we
can concerning the -person of our adorable Saviour, on whom all our
hopes depend : but after all we can know, his person is and will remain
a mystery. Of this the Scriptures fail not to give us warning.
"Wherefore inquirest thou after my name? (says he. Judges xiii, 18,)
seeing it is secret," or wonderful as the word ^Ve also means. " His
name," says Isaiah, ch. ix, 6, " shall be called «■?£) wonderful, or secret"
" He hath a name written which no one knoweth but himself," saith
St. .John. " No one knoweth the Son," says the Lord Jesus. " but the
Father, even as no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom
the Son will reveal him." It is true, he has revealed himself in some
degree by his apostles and prophets, and reveals himself still more, or
rather gives us the true understanding of what he has revealed, by the
inward illumination of his Spirit. But this respects his offices rather
than his -person : what he is to vs and the rest of the creatures rather
than what he is in himself. And to know this, viz. what he is to us, as
it most concerns us, so it is the principal thing meant in Scripture by the
" knowledge of Christ."
.5. And I may say the same concerning the knowledge of the Father
and of the Holy Spirit. It does not consist in having abstracted and
speculative ideas of the nature and attributes of God and the distinctions
in the Divine essence ; but is the beholding, (as St. Paul says, 2 Cor. iii,
18,) with open, a.va.y.2xa.'k\)[i.\i.tv<ji, with unvailed face, (the vail of unbelief
being rent from our minds,) in the glass of his word and works, and
especially in the person of his Son, " his glory," so as to be " changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord." Surely he only knows the " God and Father of our Lord Jesus,"
PREFACE. 381
who being made his child by adoption and grace, and having the " Spirit
of adoption sent into his heart, crying, Abba, Father," so " beholds what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon him," as to " love God
who hath first loved him." For " he that loveth not knoweth not God,
for God is love ;" whereas "he that loveth," and only he, is "born of
God," and " knoweth God." He only knows the Lord Jesus who knows
him as "the way, the truth, and the hfe ;" as the icay, through whom
he '■^ comes to the Father i'^ as the truth, whose testimony he fully receives,
and on whose veracity he absolutely depends ; and the life, who has
quickened his soul, dead in sin, and by his grace made him a " living
branch" in himself the " living vine," a living member in his mystical
body, vitally united to the living head. And he only knows the Holy
Spirit, who being born of him and possessed of his witness and his
fruits, even "love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
fidehty, meekness, temperance," is become a " temple of the Holy
Ghost, a habitation of God through the Spirit."
6. On the other hand, if this be wanting, whatever speculative know-
ledge we may have of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and of their
natures and relations to each other, we are properly unacquainted with
the Christian doctrine of the trinity, and have not received that real
benefit from it which the revelation of it was designed to produce.
Nay, and for any spiritual or saving advantage we derive from it, it
might as well not have been revealed to us. Thus Dr. Jer. Taylor,
" He that goes about to speak of the mystery of the trinity, and does
it by words and names of man's invention, talking of essences and exist-
ences, hypostases and personalities, priorities in co-equalities, «&c, and
unity in pluralities ; may amuse himself and build a tabernacle in his
head, and talk something he knows not what ; but the good man that
feels the power of the Father, and to whom the Son is become " wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," and in whose heart the
love of the Spirit of God is shed abroad, — this man, though he imder-
stands nothing of what is unintelligible, yet he alone truly understands
the Christian doctrine of the trinity." (Jer. Taylor on John vii, 17.)
7. The apostle teaches us the true knowledge and use of this doctrine,
and at the same time informs us who they are that understand it aright,
when, Eph. ii, 18, he says, "Through him," viz. Christ, the only
Mediator between God and man, " we both [Jews and Gentiles] have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." But when this is not our expe-
rience ; when we do not a[)proach or have not access to the Father,
through him and by the Spirit ; when we are strangers to the influence
of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, and of consequence are devoid both
of true repentance and saving faith, which are both of the operation of
God; see Col. ii, 12, 13; — when, though we have "free liberty to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, in that new and living way
382 PKBFACE.
which he hath consecrated for us through the vail," that is to say,
" his flesh," and have " a great High Priest over the house of God ;"
yet we do not use our hberty, and " draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,"
as well as " our bodies washed with pure water ;" when we do not
' believe in Christ, with our heart unto righteousness," so as to be
'justified by faith in Christ," find " peace with God," and obtain " the
love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us,"
— then is the whole doctrine of Christ concerning the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost hid from us, or abused by us.
8. There is indeed one mystical hxly of Christ, but we do not belong
to it, are not members of it ; one Spirit, but we have not received him,
he does not dwell in us, does not quicken and renew our souls ; there is
one Lord, but we are not subject to him, he does not reign in and over
us, and therefore he is not our Lord ; om faith in that one Lord, even
a " faith working by love, purifying the heart, and overcoming the
world," but we have it not ; one bapt'ism, but we are not baptized with it,
or if we have had the sign, have not had the " thing signified thereby,"
even a " death imto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness ;" there is
one God and Father of all, who in and through that one Loj-d, and by that
one Spirit, " is above all, and through all, and in all" real believers ; but
he is not oitr Father, nor are we his children, nor do we worsliip him
" in spirit and in truth."
9. This I apprehend is that ignorance or denial of the blessed trinity,
which is most to be dreaded, because niost destructive. - It leaves the
soul in its fallen and disordered state, immersed in sin, and exposed to
wrath ; an " alien from the commonwealth of Israel, a stnmger to the
covenant of promise, having no [lively, well groimded] hope, without
Christ and without God in the woi'ld :" it leaves it devoid of the true
" grace of Christ," the real " love of God," and ennobling and comfort-
ing " communion of the Holy Ghost." Such, not havmg received the
" Spirit of Christ, are none of his ;" and not belonging to Christ, not
" having the Son, they have not the Father," and not having the Father,
have neither " the true God nor eternal life." " He that hath the Son,"
indeed, " hath life," but he that hath not the Spirit, as we have just
seen, hath not the Son, and therefore " hath not life," but abideth in
death spiritual, and is in the lugh road to death eternal. Nor will his
pretended regard to the Father save him : for " he that honoureth not
the Son," especially in his mediatorial character, and in the offices he sus-
tains lor a lost world ; he that believeth not on him with a living faith,
as " made of God unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption, honoureth not the Father," who hath api)oin(cd him to
execute those oHiecs and bear those characters for our salvation.
10. I said with a living faith, for it is not a cold, languid, lifeless
PREFACE. 383
assent to the truths of the Gospel that will save us ; aor such a depend-
ence on Christ and on the promises of God through him, as being neither
preceded by repentance nor accompanied with love, leaves the soul as a
withered branch upon a tree, or a dead member in a body. But the
faith that is eflectual to salvation is a lively, vigorous, active, and power,
ful principle, which, coming to Jesus, and confiding in him, unites the
soul to him, so that it derives out " of his fulness gx'ace upon grace,"
and becomes fruitful in every holy temper, word, and work.
11. By this faith we receive Christ in all his offices and characters.
Viewing him as a " Teacher come from God," the " i)i"ophet like unto
Moses," whom on pain of eternal destruction we are commanded to
hear, whose every word is veracity and truth, whose doctrine is as
infallible as it is extraordinary ; with the simplicity and teachableness
of little children, we sit at his feet, and with humble reverence and
dutiful submission, we hear and receive the gracious words that proceed
out of his mouth, desiring above all things to be doei-s of the word, as
well as hearers. Considering him as the " High Priest of our profes-
sion, a great High Priest passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God ;
a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec, who, by one offering
of himself, once made, hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified,
and who, when he had by himself purged our sins, for ever sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high, expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool :" considering him (I say) in his priestly office, " de-
livered for our oflences, raised for our justification," and appearing in
the presence of God, as our Advocate and Intercessor, we come with
boldness to a throne of grace, and thus " obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need." By the help of this grace, he who is thus
made of God unto us "wisdom and righteousness," is also made of God
unto us " sanctification and redemption :" he who is heard with submis-
sive reverence as a " Prophet," and relied on with loving confidence as
a " Priest," is also received with obedient loyalty as a " King." His
kingdom of " righteousness, peace, and joy," is set up in our hearts, and
his " holy, just, and good laws," are made the rule of our lives from day
to day. He reigns in and over us ; his love is the principle, his tmU the
rule, and his glory the end of our words and actions ; and we " five no
longer to ourselves, but to him that died for us, and rose again."
12. Thus, being "in Christ, we are new creatures, old things are
passed away ; behold, all things are become new. And all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath
given [to his apostles and servants] the ministry of reconciliation ; to
v.it, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to liimself, not imput-
ing their trespasses unto them : for he hath made him to be sin [viz. a
sin offering] for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the right-
eousuess of God ui him," might be justified, and made righteous through
384 PREFACE.
him. 'riiough, therefore, in time past, we might be " foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts ajid pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful, and hating one another ; yet the kindness and love of God our
Saviour toward man appearing, not by works of righteousness which
we had done, but according to his mercy, he saved us — by the wash-
ing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, shed on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his
grace we might be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life."
Thus the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are acknowledged in their several
offices and characters, and each perfomis his proper work in saving our
lost souls. We worship " one God " in and through " one Mediator,"
by the inspiration and aid " of one Spirit," without perplexing ourselves
with curious inquiries after, and v^ain reasonings about, what we can no
more know in this world, tlian a child in its infancy can understand how
the several offices, powers, and prerogatives of the king, lords, and com-
mons, constitute one supreme and legislative authority in Great Britain.
And with the simplicity of a child, and the loyalty of a good subject of
the King of heaven, who commands our hearts, and governs our lives
in and through his Son, and by his Spirit, we confess with our lips, what
we believe with our hearts, that though in the Church and in the world
there are diversities of gifts, it is the same Spirit from whom they all
proceed ; and though there are differences of administrations or offices
to be sustained by the servants of Christ, it is the same Lord that appoints
them all ; and though there are diversities of operations or eflects pro-
duced, it is the '< same God who worketh all in all through that Lord,
and by that Spirit."
13. It is true, some acquaintance with the persons, as well as offices
of the sacred Three, into whose name we have been baptized, is very
desirable, and indeed, absolutely needful, to lay a foundation for that
Christian experience and practice, those devout and benevolent affections,
and holy and righteous actions, so necessary in order to our pleasing
God here, or enjoying him hereafter. And, in particular, it seems im-
possible we should apply to Christ, even in his mediatorial character, in
which character he is most frequently held forth to us in Scripture,
without considering him as " God manifest in the flesh," a person in
whom dwells " all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." For what benefit
can we derive from a mediator, at least, an invisible mediator, a media,
tor in heaven, who is a mere man, or a iuere creature, circumscribed in
his being, and confined in his presence and operations ? Who can have
no access to us, nor we to him ; can neither see, nor hear, nor help us ;
and to whom, as being unseen, and at a distance, we can neither signify
our wants, nor with any confidence look up for a supply of them ? A
mediator, who cannot be present with us at all times, and in all places,
iu private and in public, at home and abroad, by sea and by land, night
PREFACE. 385
and day, in England and ni China, throughout the habitable globe?
Surely omnipresence and omniscience, at least, yea, and omnipotence
too, are necessary to the character of a complete mediator — a mediator
between God and all mankind. And such is the mediator in whom we
trust : '* Where two or three (says he) are met in my name, I am there
in the midst of them. Lo ! I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world : beliold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear
my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with me : all the Churches shall know that I am he that
searcheth the reins and the heart."
14. Not that his human nature (for he is '■^perfect man, of a reason,
able soul and human flesh subsisting") can be thus present in all places,
and acquainted with all things. This is not supposed, I beheve, by any.
No : these manifestly Divine perfections are ascribed to the " eternal
Word " of the Father, the indwelling Deity, to which his humanity is
joined by a close and indissoluble union, and by which alone he is every
where present, acquainted with every thing, has all power in heaven and
earth, and will judge men and angels at the last day.
15. Accordingly, those that^deny this perfect, everlasting union of
Deity with manhood, do, in general, also deny his mediation, and con-
sider him merely in the character of a " Teacher sent from God," who,
by his doctiine and example, directs us in the will of God, and in the
way to his kingdom, but who neither made any atonement for our sins,
nor intercedes for our souls. Nay, and if they follow Dr. Priestley, they
will not put any great confidence in him, even in the character of a
Prophet, persuaded tliat he was liable to err, even in that respect. Thus
every ground of hope beuig withdrawn, even the hope of a sure guide to
heaven, and all intercourse cut off between God and man, they naturally
disbeUeve all visitations of supernatural grace, all influences of the Spirit
of God upon the soul, and therefore deny the Father, Son, and Spirit,
in eveiy sense in which they could be profited by them, havuig, in fact,
neither God, nor Saviour, nor Comforter.
16. It being, therefore, manifestly necessary that we should believe
Christ to be " Immanuel, God with us," God " manifest in the flesh,"
omnipresent, euid omniscient, I have the more willingly suffered myself to
be prevailed upon to revise the following sheets, and make such additions
to them as may aflford sufficient proof of that important point of Chris-
tian doctrine. I wish the diflnicult task had been committed to an abler
hand. But Mrs. Fletcher and her friends having assigned it to me, I
have endeavoured, to the utmost of my power, that the work might not
be entirely unworthy of the public eye. As I have made it my care fairly
to represent Mr. Fletcher's sentiments on the weighty subject under con-
sideration, so I have in general retained his language ; rather choosing
to let some expressions pass, which probably, had he lived to put the
V'OL. III. 25
386 PREFACE.
finishing hand to this work, he would have corrected himself, thaii to
alter what he might design to stand. Mr. Fletcher's friends, I knew,
would prefer what was his to any thing I could substitute in the place
of it : and, as I should have thought it a C7i7ne to misrepresent his senti-
ments, so I did not think I could mend his style, which, in general, is
most pure and excellent. I have not, indeed, thought myself under any
obligation to publish all the papers he hath left on this part of the sub.
ject, some of them being loose and unconnected paragraphs, and not
capable of being introduced here : but what I have been able to bring
into any proper connection with the rest, and what seemed calculated to
prove or illustrate the doctrine under consideration, I have published ;
and the public may be sure they are not mistaken in receiving as Mr.
Fletcher's what is presented to them as his.
J. Bkjn'son.
Hull, November 15, 1788.
INTRODUCTION.
1. The catholic Church is openly attacked, in our day, by enemies
so much the more dangerous as they are friends to some of her doc-
trines, and, as to many things, highly comniendable in their moral
coiiJuct, puttuig to the blush the loose livers who acknowledge a
trinity. Thus they persuade the world, that their incessant attacks
upon the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity ai'c directed by
virttie itself.
2. Those who cordially believe in the Father, in the Son, and \n the
Holy Ghost, are pubhcly treated as gross idolaters, because "at the
name of Jesus they bow the knee, and call for salvation upon the only
name under heaven given among men, whereby wc must be saved,"
Phil, ii, 10, and Acts iv, 12. We are even invited to come out of the
Church of England, as if she were mystic Babylon, because she directs
us to call upon the Son, as we do upon the Father ; an act of worship
which the enemies of our Lord's divinity consider as "idolizing" Christ,
if we may judge of them by their learned champion, who says, in his
Appeal to the Professors of Christianity^ " If the Trinitarians think a
point of conscience not to go to mass in Popish Churches, because ni
their opinion it is idolizing a piece of bread, you ought to make a point
of conscience not to worship with them, because, in your opinion, it is
idolizing a man, who is just as improper an object of worship, as a
■piece of bread,^' Thus "the Lord of glory" is put on a level with a
piece of bread ; and doing the chief work of a Christian, " calling upon
the Lord Jesus" for salvation, is compared to the worshipping of an idol,
which hath not so much life and sense as a dog.
3. So incessant have these onsets been of late, that we might fear
for the cathohc Church, if the Lord had not promised that " the gates
of hell shall not prevail against her," and that "all things shall work
together for good to them that love him." But, comforted and encour-
aged by these promises, we may be confident, that even the repeated
attacks of Di\ Pi-iestley against our Lord's divinity will show the
strength of " the Rock of ages," as billows, which incessantly beat
upon a rock that breaks them all, show their own weakness, and tho
solidity of the rock against which they foam and dash themselves.
4. In the meantime, new modes of attack will render new methods
of defence necessary ; for God forbid that Christ's worshippers should
be less ready to confess him as their Lord and their God, than the de-
ppieers of his divinity are to degrade him into a mere man ! The learned
388 INTRODUCTION.
axclideacon of St. Alban's, the Monthly Reviewers, the Rev. IVfessrs.
Ryland and Shepard, &c, have already stood forth in defence of the
cathoHc faith : and, in the author's judgment, they have done it so
effectually, that when he saw their pubUcations, he laid these papers
aside as needless : and if he now resumes them at the desire of some
friends, it is merely upon considering that Dr. Horsley and his judicious
allies having chiefly written for the learned, some fartlier remarks,
suited to persons of all ranks and capacities, might have their use also.
5. The Lord needs no man's pen to support his cUvinity, which sup-
ports the pillars of earth and heaven : nevertheless, as he once used the
voice of an ass to check a prophet's madness, and that of a cock to stop
an apostle's imprecations, he may, (if he condescend to bless these
sheets,) soften, by them, the prejudices of a philosopher. But the prin-
cipal end, which the author proposes, by sending them to the press, is
to confirm his own faith, Euid that of the unprejudiced reader, by scat-
tering the mists of some growing errors, and by collecting the beams of
Christ's divine glory, which lie diffused in the sacred pages.
6. It is humbly hoped that the fiiends of the pure Gospel will not
(under pretence that they hate controversy) be afraid to increase their
Ught, and to warm their devotion, at a fire made up of coals taken from
the altar of sacred truth. No man's time was ever lost, no believer's
love was ever injured, by reading St. John's Gospel or his epistles, in
which our Lord himself, and his loving disciple, carry on against the
scribes and the Pharisees, against the Jews and the Gnostics, the very
same controversy which we now maintain against the Unitarians and
the philosophers of the present age.
7. In the meantime, let no one be surprised that men, noted for their
learning and virtue, should be permitted to enforce tlieir errors so pub-
licly, and with such apparent sincerity. Pro\idence has its ^vise ends.
There must be heresies among us, that they who are approved may be
made manifest. Light and darkness, truth and error, the tree of life,
and the tree of knowledge, must be set before us, that we may stretch
out our hand, according to our choice, and be judged according to the
works of our faith, or those of our unbelief. Add to tliis, that, by God's
overruling providence, error often whets the edge of truth, manifests its
solidity, and makes its sparkhng glories break forth with greater advan-
tage : thus, in a picture, the sKades heighten the surprising effect of the
lights ; and truth never appears so transcendently bright, as when the
blackness of error, like a foil, sets it off" in our sight. What is chaff' to
the wheat, before the winnowing fan ? And what are thorns to the fire ?
8. Truth is a devouring flame, and will one day consume all the bul-
warks of wood, hay, and stubble, which are raised to stop its progress.
Dr. Priestley pictures out this power of truth, in the fine frontispiece of
his Disquisitions. There he sets before us wooden scaflfolds all on fire.
INTRODUCTION. 389
wliile a temple of marble, adorned with pillars of silver, gold, and pre-
cious stones, stands the conflagration. " The application of this scene
(says he) is sufficiently obvious :" for he fondly supposes that his philo-
sophical and historical Disquisitions are the fire of truth, burning up the
doctrine of the soul's immortality, of the divinity of Christ, and of the
trinity ; which doctrines he compares to wood, hay, and stubble. Far
from thinlving, as he does, about his frontispiece, to us " it is sufficiently
obnous," that the catholic faith is the fire, which, sooner or later, will
bum up Materialism, Socinimiism, and antichristian philosophy, like
thorns, briers, and chaff.
9. Judicious reader, come and see who mistakes in a point of such
vast importance. Providence has given you two lights, reason and re-ve-
lotion : take the hint of the doctor's frontispiece ; bring them near, and
use them mstead of touch-stones. Touch the adamantine pillars of
truth, and they shall shine. Touch the mountains of error, which bear
the Socinian temple, and they shall smoke. Touch the stately doom,
and it shall blaze. Nor let a mistaken respect for the learned architect
make you spare the wall, if it be daubed with untempered mortar.
When the whole shall come down, the builder shall gain moi'e than
tongue can tell : for if he lose a little of his reputation, he will get a soul
and a Saviour, yea, an immortal soul, and a Divine Saviour, to whom,
with the rapturous joy of St. Matthew, St. Thomas, and St. Stephen,
he will say, " Emmanuel, God with us. My Lord, and my God !" I
shall not die like a brute ; I have a soul ! Lord, save it to the utter-
most, save it for ever ! " Into thy hands I commit it, for thou hast
redeemed it, O Lord, thou God of truth." May it be the sincere wish
of the reader, as it is of the author, that all who name the name of
Christ, may soon agree in such an evangehcal confession ; and that the
names of Unitarian, and Trinitarian, may for ever be lost in the sweeter
names of Christian and brother !
AN EXPOSTULATORY LETTER
TO
THE REV. DR. PRIESTLEY,
OCCASIONED BY HIS HISTORY OF THE CORRUPTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY.
Rev. Sir, — While you invite archdeacons and bishops to defend
their Church, and the divinity of their Saviour, may the voice of a poor
country vicar be heard amidst the groans of the press, which repeats
your challenges ? Will not your sense of honour feel too great a dis-
appointment in seeing so mean a person step forth to present you with
an expostulatoiy letter, and to break a spear with you on the very
ground where you tliink yourself invincible — philosophy, reason, and
common sense ?
Conscious of the variety of your learning, and the greatness of your
reputation, I apologize for my boldness, by observing, that the Church
is my mother : that the feeblest child has a right to cry out when hi3
mother is stabbed to the heart ; and that when the Divine crown of our
Lord is pubUcly struck at, the least of believers may show his astonish-
ment at the antichristian deed. Nay, he is bound to do it by the two
tables of the law : for the first bids him manifest his zeal for the Lord
God his Saviour, who, by the Gospel, brought him out of spiritual
Egypt, out of the house of heathenish and Popish bondage ; and the
second table enjoins him to expostulate with his brethren when they sin
through inattention, perverseness, or ignorance.
FIRST EXPOSTULATION.
When the Socinians of the last century said that it was impossible to
believe that God and man were united in the person of our Lord, the
Catholics repUed, It was as easy to believe that God and man make one
Christ, as to believe that the immortal soul and the mortal body are one
man. And Dr. Sherlock added, that the best way for the Socinians to
set aside this argument against the mystery of our Lord's incarnation,
was to deny the union of soul and body, because they could not under-
stand it ; and openly to maintain that man is a body without a soul, a
compound of mere matter.
When that judicious divine dropped this hint, he httle thought that some
philosophers of our day would be so desperately bent upon divesting
Christ of his Divine gloiy, that if even their own souls, and the souls of
all mankind, stood in the way, they would freely give them up — they
would run into Fatalism and Materialism — they would absolutely
renounce the immortality of the soul, and even be content to die like
dogs, without leaving any surviving part of themselves, so they might
win the day against the catholic Church, and the divinity of our Lord.
392 EXPOSTULATOFAT LETTER
I am fiorry to observe, Rev. sir, that you have the dangerous honour
to be at the head of these bold philosophers. Dr. Berkley was so
singular as to deny the existence of matter ; and so bold as to obtrude
upon us a system which annihilates the bodies of all mankind : accord-
ing to his doctrine, there is nothing but spirit in the world, and matter
exists only in our ideas. As a rival of his singularity, you run into the
opposite extreme ; you annihilate our souls ; you turn us into mere
machines : we are nothing but matter ; and if you allow us any spirit,
it is only such as can be distilled like spirits of wine. Thus (if we
believe you both) being ground, not only to atoms, but to absolute
nonentity, between the two mill stones of our preposterous and con-
trary mistakes, we have neither fonn nor substance, neither body nor
soul !
Glad am I, sir, that when you made so free with the souls of men,
you did not pass your philosophical sponge over the existence of " the
Father of spirits," the great Soul, which gives life and motion to the uni-
verse. But, though you spare the Father's dignity, you attack the Son's
divinity : you deny the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost, and,
by hasty strides, you carry us back to (what appears to me) a dwarf,
mongrel Christianity, made up of Materialism, Judaism, and the baptism
of John.
To gain this inglorious end, in your History of the Corruptions of
Christianit7j, you collect the capital errors invented by fallen Christians
m the corrapt ages of Christianity ; then, taking some of the most pre-
cious Gospel truths, you blend them with those errors ; and, rendering
them all equally odious, you turn them promiscuously out of the Church,
as " the corruptions of Christianity." Thus you cleanse the temple of
truth, as our Lord would have cleansed that of Jeiiisalem, if he had
thrown down the tables which bore the shew bread as well as the tables
of the money changers ; and if he had turned out the cherubim of glory
as he did the beasts which defiled that holy place : in short, you treat
our Lord's divinity as the Jews treated his humanity, when they num-
bered him with felons, that the hurrying mob might cry with a show of
piety, " Away ^ith him ! Crucify him," with the thieves, his accursed
companions !
SECOND EXPOSTULATION.
If this method should fail, you seem determined to carry your point
by pressing the primitive Church into the service of your cause. In the
fourth centiny the Christian world was astonished to see itself Arian :
but, if we believe you, there was no reason for this astonishment, for in
the second century it was Socinian already.
Happily for your attentive readers, your zeal has outrun your pru-
dence ; for in your eagerness to heap up the testimonies of the fathers,
which you thought would prove that the primitive Church was a stranger
to the catholic doctrine of the trinity, you have produced some which
(if I mistake not) are alone sufficient to overthrow all your historical
proofs.
To instance only in one particular. In your Histoiy (page 60) you
quote Tertullian, a learned and pious father of the second century. And
TO THE REV, DR. PRIESTLRY, 393
the two passages you produce from him are some of the strongest that
could be brought to prove, that in his time none but stubborn Jews,
and stupid or perverse hearers of the Gospel, objected to the doctrine
of the trinity. Permit me to lay those passages at full length beforo
the English reader, who is desired to remember that they are a part of
Tertulhan's defence of the sacred trinity against Praxeas, a man who,
by the antichristian mamier in wliich he stood up for the Divine unity,
may be called the Priestley of that age.
" It is the property of the faith of a Jew (says the learned father)
so to admit the Divine unily, as not to include therein the Son, and after
him the Spirit. For what difierence is there between the Jews and us
but this? What need of the Gospel, if it do not clearly hold out to us the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit, as constituting the Divine unity ? God
[by changing circumcis^ion for baptism] has so ordered this new sacra-
ment, that his imity should now be beUeved in a new [that is, in afar more
explicit] manner, as inclusive o(the Son, and oi'the Spirit ; and that (Jod,
whose unity was not clearly apprehended, as comprehensive of the Son,
and of the Spirit, when he was preached in time past [to the Jews] might
now be openly known according to his pvper names and persons."*
[Namely, according to the names and persons of the Father, of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.]
TertuUian pursues : " When I say that the Father is one, the Son
another, and the Spirit another, a sottish, or a perverse man, takes that
expression in a wrong sense, and supposing that it implies a diversity
[of gods,] from this mistaken diversity, he pretends that the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit are separate."!
Should you, sir find fault with my translation of these two passages,
you ^\'ill not disi)ute the exactness ot ) our own translation of a third
passage from Tertulhan's works, which is a glorious testimony, that
(according to the catholic faith, the Regula Fidei,) the Son not only
pre-existed, contrary to jour favourite error, but was with the Father,
the Maker of the world. You give us this wholesome antidote in your
Remarks on the Rev. Mr. BadcocWs Review of your Letters to Dr. Hors-
iey, p. 18.
* The laconic style of TertuUian has obliged me to add little parentheses, in
italics, to render his obvious meaning plain to an English reader. However, that
Dr. P. may not complain, I shall transcribe, from his own book, the original quo-
tation:— JtidaiccB fidei ista res sic ununi Deum credere, vt Filium admimerare ei
nolis, et postfiUuvi Spiritum. Quid opus Evangelii sic non exindc Pater, ei Filius,
et Spiritus, vnum Deum sistunt ? Si Deus voluit novare sacramentum, ut nove
unus crederetur per Filium et Spiritum, et coram jam Deus in suis propriis No-
minibus et Personis cognosceretur, qui et retro per Filium et Spiritum pradicatus
non inlelligebatur. Ad Pra.xeam, sec. 30, p. 518.
t Ecce enim dico alium esse Patrem, et alium Filium, et alium Spiritum. Male
accipit Idiotcs quisquis out Perversus hoc dictum, quasi diversitatem sonet, et ex
diversitate sepnrationem prtctcndit Patris, Filii, et Spiritus. Ad Praxeam, sec.
8, p. 504. I do not translate the word idiotes, " unlearned," (as Dr. P. does,)
but "idiot," or "stupid." (1.) Because this sense of it suits best the tenor
of the whole book, and of this particular sentence : and, (2.) Because it is the
primary meaning which Ainsworth ascribes to idiota, and which he proves to be
classical, by observing, tiiat Cicero opposes the word idiota to an intelligent and
sensible person. Dr. Horsley has, by the same reasons, rescued another capital
passage of TertuUian, which Dr. P. has pressed into his service by the mistake I
guard Bgainst.
394 EXPPSTULATOEY LETTER
, Jtegula Fidei (the Rule of Faith ; you say after TertuUian in the
Treatise De Prcescrrptione) "by which we are taught to beheve, that
there is but one God, and this no other than the Maker of the world,
who produced every thing out of nothing, by his own Word then first
sent down ; that the Word was called his Son ; that he appeared va-
riously in the name [that is, in the character] of God to the patriarchs ;
that he was afterward conveyed by the Spirit and power of God the
Father, into the Virgin Mary ; that he was made flesh in her womb,
and from her appeared in the person of Jesus Christ," 6zc. We, wor-
shipper's of God the Son manifest in the flesh, are much obliged to you,
sir, lor thus informing 5-our readers, that the rule of faith taught the
primitive Christians, ^Vs^, that the Word and Soil of God was sent out from
the Father to produce the world out of nothing : secondly, that this very
Word or Son appeared variottsly to the patriarchs in the character of God :
and thirdly, that he afterward uns made flesh in the womh of the Virgin
Mary, and appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. This is all we con-
tend for : you prove that it was the catholic faith, and yet }ou are so
forget fid of your owTi quotations as to pretend to prove from the fathers,
that OTU' Lord was a mere man.
From these three quotations it appears that Dr. P., instead of demon-
strating that the primitive Church was, in general, of his way of thinking,
has only proved that tlie priinitive rule of faith was against him, and
that in TertuUian's days, about two hundred years after Christ, some
mistaken persons took exception against the doctrine of the trinity : but
who were these persons, beside the unbelieving Jews and the heretic
Praxeas ? Truly the stupid or perverse people, who chanced to hear the
Gospel ; and Dr. P. is welcome to all the weight they can add to his
cause, and to all the honour they can confer upon his party.
What effect the leai'ned doctor's book will have upon the unwary,
and upon those who take his partial quotations upon trust, I do not
know. But I can say with truth that the sixtieth page of his long History
has confirmed me in the faith which I vowed to Christ at my baptism,
and seems to me sufficient to prevent the mischief of the whole. When
God suffers us to be tempted to dangerous errors, he always opens, with
the temptation, a door that we may escape. Through his overruling
providence the learned doctor himself has here opened us the door, by
informing us that it was ivot judicious and good Christians, but sottish
and PERVERSE people, who formerly mistook and cavilled at the catholic
doctrine of the trinity. We thank the doctor for the door ; and making
our easy escape at it, we bless the Keeper of Israel, who takes the wise
in their own net ; and adapting the second Psalm to the builders, who, in
our day, reject the Head Stone of the corner, we sing. The wise ones
of the earth " stand up, and take counsel together against the Lord, and
against his Anointed. But he that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh : the
Lord shall have them in derision." Be wise now, therefore, ye philo-
sophers : be learned, ye that are doctors in Israel. " Kiss the Son, lest
he be angry," and so ye perish in the sottishness or perverseness of your
unbelief.
TO THE REV, DR. PRIESTLEY, 395
THIRD EXPOSTULATION.
Bear, dear sir, with the plainness of this application. Did you err
only in the less important truths of the Gospel, we would pass over in
silence your theological mistakes, as resulting almost necessarily from
your numerous avocations, and from the intenseness of your philosophical
studies. But is this the case? Do you not bend yourself against the
fundamentals of Christianity, against those very doctrines which (ex-
cepting Mohammed's mission) most peculiarly distinguish the Bible from
the Koran ? Mohammed forbids us to pay Divine honours to any but the
Father ; whereas our Lord teaches us to honour the Son as we honour
the Father, and to honour the Holy Ghost as we do the Son ; enjohiing
us to be equally " baptized in the name [equally consecrated to the ser-
vice] of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" commanding
us to receive, ^\ith the same reverential awe, the testimony of the
"Three who bear \\itness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and tho
Spirit ;" and directing us to pray and wait equally for " the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, for the love of God the Father, and for the fel-
lowship of the Hol}'^ Ghost." But, endeavouring to break the sacred
bonds of this adoreible trinity, 5-ou indirectly exhort us to make void the
covenant of our baptism ; urging us to renounce the adoration of the
Son, together with all dependence on his merits, aiid to disclaim all ex-
pectation of the influences of the Holy Spirit. And if he that "honoureth
not the Son, honoureth not the Father ;" and if we have liberty of ac-
cess to the Father only "through the Son and by the Spirit," Eph. ii, 18,
then, it appears, if we follow you, we shall not even worship the Fathei",
but shall in truth be aSsoi sv xctfjaa), Atheists in the uwld, rejecting alto-
gether the one true God, who, from the first step of our Christian race,
manifests a trinity to us, as the grand object of our religious confidence.
Nor do we advance a groundless charge, when we complain, that
5'ou weaken or destroy the foundations of Christianity: for when you
assert that the Son is a mere man, you indirectly tell us, that he is
as improperl)' joined w ith the Father to be the great object of our faith
in baptism, as a taper would improperly be joined with the sun to
enlighten the uni\erse. And when you represent the Holy Ghost as a
senseless power, and a power whereby we must not now hope to
be influenced, yon might as well tell us, that he is as unfit to have a
place among the " Three who bear record in heaven," as your power of
motion, or the energy of your mind, would be absurdly mentioned as
parties in a contract, where your name and person are particularly
specified. Thus, 3 ou take fi-om us the two Comforters, with whom we
are particularly blessed under the Gospel. If we believe you, the one
is a mere man, who camiot hear us ; and the other is a mere property,
or an unconscious energy, by which we shall be no way benefited,
and as insensible to our faith as to our unbelief. And when our liOrd
bids all nations to be "])aptized in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost," (if the word Son do not mean the proper
Son of God ; if it mean only the son of the carpenter Joseph, and if the
Holy Ghost be only the Father's energy, and an energy whereby we can
neither be quickened nor comforted,) tliis Gospel charter is i'uv more
extraordinary, than would be the royal patents, by whicli gentlemen are
396 EXPOSTULATORY LETTEll
created lords, if they all began thus, " Be it enacted in the name, or by
the supreme authority, of King C4eorge the Third, of Joseph the car-
penter's son, and of the royal power or energy, that A. B. Esq., be
numbered among peers of the realm." Such is the wisdom displayed
by the philosophers, who call the divinity of the Son the leading cor-
ruption of Christianity, and who pretend to reform all the Reformed
Churches '
FOURTH EXPOSTULATION.
Permit me, sir, to say one word more upon your last grand publica-
tion. Our Reformers had sufficiently proved, that the worshipping the
Virgin Mary, saints, and angels, is an antichristian practice ; and we
English Protestants, for whom you chiefly write, had no need to be
reclaimed from that idolatry. If, then, you spend so much time and
paper in exposing the Christian idolatry, it is evident, that your chief
design is to attack the Divine honours which we pay to the Lord Jesus ;
and that your account of the Popish errors, &c, comes in only, by the by,
to mask the battery, from which you thinli you can attack our faith more
decently, and with greater advantage. Hence, through nine hundred
pages, you chiefly labour to prove, that our Saviour is a mere creature,
and that the blood of the Son of God hath no more atoning virtue than
the blood of the sons of Zebedee.
Had you been as open as you are prudent, you would at once have
called your History of Corruptions, " an attempt to prove that all Chris-
tians are cursed idolaters, if they trust in Christ for salvation ;" for it is
written, " Cursed is the man that trusteth in man" for that salvation which
God alone can bestow.
Your friend, Mr. Lindsey, to whom you dedicate your work, may
praise you for it ; but will you, sir, have any thanks from Him, who
said on the banks of Jordan, and upon the holy mount, " Tliis is my
beloved Son, hear ye him" with a believing confidence? Will you have any
thanks from Him, who said, " Ye believe in God [the Father,] believe
also in me ?" Will you be praised by St. Paul, who gloried in his being
of the number of those " who first trusted in Christ ?" Will you even be
exculpated by one of those martyrs, confessors, or beUevers, who, for
1700 years, have said to Christ, " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou
hast the words of eternal life !"
But how do you prove, sir, that this cloud of godly witnesses is a
company of idolaters, who trusted in a mere arm of flesh, when they
believed in Christ ? Truly, by three assertions, as paradoxical as the
arguments by which you would prove that we have no souls, or only
such as turn to a mephitic vapour when we die. Tlie first of those
assertions is, that the doctrine of the trinity is irrational ; the second is,
that the doctrine of our Lord's divinity has no proper foundation in the
Old Testament ; the prophets speaking of the Messiah only as of a man
like themselves ; and the third is, that Christ's Deity is likewise unsup-
ported by the New Testament — the apostles never giving our Lord any
higher title than that of a man approved of God.
In opposition to the first of these assertions, I here present you, sir,
with a rational, as well as Scriptural, vindication of the doctrine of our
TO THE RBV. DR. PRIESTLEY. 397
Lord's divinity ; and in opposition to the two last, (as my health shall
permit,) I design to prepare a work which shall, I trust, fully rescue the
prophets and apostles trom the antichristian service to which you con-
tinue to press them.
In reply to the History, where you tiy to prove from the fathers that
" the doctrines of the divinity of Christ, and of his being any more than a
man, are an innovation, and the dreadful corruption of Christianity, wliich
has been the fruitful source of many others,"* I designed to add a fourth
part ; but considering that you have already refuted your own error,
(witness your quotations from TertuUian, p. 60,) I shall spare myself the
trouble of doing it otherwise than indirectly.
Though I am conscious that all the fathers are, upon the whole,
against you, with regard to the charge of innovation, I choose to meet
you chiefly upon Scripture ground, (1.) Because, having chosen it your-
self, you nobly defend it against Deists and Atheists. (2.) Because, being
firm and holy ground, it can be fully trusted. (3.) Because it is a gi'ound
open to all our readers : the Bible is in every house, but the fathers are
in few libraries. (4.) Because this field hath proper limits, and a strong
inclosure. The works of the sacred writers are short and concise, but
those of the fathers are so voluminous and diftuse, that an unfair dis-
putant may turn, wind, and hide himself in them, as a fox in a great
forest full of dens and lurking holes. (5.) Because the fathers themselves,
by their constant appeals to Scripture, invite us to make choice of that
solid and Divine ground. And, lastly, because Dr. Horsley, and the
Monthly Reviewers, who have entered the hsts against you, have already
sufficiently exposed your mistake, with respect to the fathers.
If this little work, which I inscribe to you, sir, because you have been
the occasion of it, do not soften your prejudices against what appears to
me the capital doctrine of Christianity, I hope it will confirm some
wavering professors of the Christian faith, and settle the thoughts of
candid inquirers after truth. It will at least give me an opportunity of
thanking you for the service you have done to religion, by taking the
part of revelation against some classes of unbelievers ; and of testifying
my esteem for you as a humane moralist, and a wise, indefatigable
inquirer into the secrets of nature. And although I greatly differ from
you with regard to the fundamental principles of Christianity, yet as 1
hope that, like Saul of Tarsus, you sin against the Son and Holy Ghost
out of a well-meant, but dreadfully mistaken zeal for the Majesty of the
Father, I am glad of an opportunity to assure you publicly, that, till we
meet in the fulness and unity of the faith taught by our Lord ; in reference
to that part of it which you have defended against some bare- faced
infidels, I have the honour to be, with great truth, reverend sir, your
affectionate brother, and obedient servant, Joiix Fletcher^
♦Corruption, p. 13, and Disquisitions, p. 51.
A RATIONAL
VINDICATION OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH.
CHAPTER I.
A general view of the Catholic faith concerning the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, and of tlw great question in debate, between the
Catholics and tJte Deists of every description.
That there is a supreme, infinite, and eternal Mind, by which the
world was made, is evident from the works of creation and providence.
Those works every where confirm David's obsen^ation, " The heavens
declare the glory [the glorious existence] of God." The firmament
magnificently displays his wisdom, power, and love. Every leaf of the
trees, wliich cover a thousand hills ; every spire of the grass, which
clothes a thousand vales, echoes back the same ravishing truth, " There
is a God !" But the peculiar mode of his existence is far above our
reach. Of this we only know what he plainly reveals to us, and what
we may infer from what he hath plainly revealed. For sooner shall the
vilest insect find out the nature of man, thaji the brightest man shall, of
himself, discover the nature of God.
But if this adorable Being hath been pleased to declare something
concerning himself, it is arrogancy in the most exalted creatures to quar-
rel with such a declaration, under a pretence that, in their conception,
he must have a difierent mode of existence. For common sense tells us,
that God hath a clearer knowledge of himself, than the deepest philoso-
phers, and the highest angels, can possibly have.
It is agreed on all hands that the Supreme Being, compared with all
other beings, is 07ie. One Creator over numberless creatures : one infinite
Being over myriads of finite beings : one eternal Intelligence over mil-
Jions of temporary intelligences. The distance between the things made,
and him that made them, being boundless, the living God must stand for
ever, far higher above all that lives, than the sun stands superior to all
the beams it emits, and to all the tapers lighted at its fire. In this sense,
true Christians are all Unitarians. God having plainly revealed liis unity
by the prophets, by the apostles, and by our Lord himself, there is no
doubt about this point. And may the hand wliich writes these sheets,
wither a thousand times over, rather thaii it should designedly write one
word against this gloripus and ever adorable unity.
But although the Supreme Being is one, when he is compared to all
created beings, shall we quarrel with him, when he informs us, that, not-
withstanding he hath no second in the universe of creatures, yet, in him.
self, he exists after a wonderful manner, insomuch that his one eternal
and perfect essence subsists, without division or separation, under three
A RATIONAL VINDICATION OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 399
adorable distinctions, which are called sometimes the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost ; and sometimes the Father, the Word, and the
Spirit ? " Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast
thou made me thus ?" or, Why dost thou exist after such a manner?
According to the cathoUc faith, three sorts of people in our day
capitally err in tliis matter.
1 . Tri- theists, or the tvorshippers of three gods, who so unscripturally
distinguish the Divine persons, as to divide and separate them into three
Deities ; and who, by these means, run into Poli/tJieism, or the belief of
many gods.
2. Di-THEisTs, or the worshippers of two gods. They arc generally
called Arians from Arius, their chief leader, who maintauied, that there
is one eternal God ; namely, the Father, and one who is not eternal ;
namely, the Son, who was made some time or other before the founda-
tion of the world. Thus they worshipped two gods, a great god and a
little god ; the former uncreate, the latter created ; the former, God by
nature ; and the latter, only by courtesy.
3. Deists, who so unscripturally maintain the miity of the Divine
essence, as to admit but one Divine subsistence ; namely, that of the
Father ; thus excluding both the Word and the Holy Ghost from their
place in the Divine nature.
There are three sorts of these Deists, beside the Mohammedans. (1.)
Those who reject and scoff at all the Bible, as Voltaire, Hume, and the
like infidels. (2.) Those who reject the New Testament, and explain
away those parts of the Old which do not suit their notions of the Mes-
siah, as the modern Jews: and (3.) Those who profess to receive the
New Testament, but reject or explain away what they dislike of it. . Of
this sort are the Socinians, so called from Socinus, an Italian, who, at the
time of the Reformation, revived the ancient heresy of some Judaizing
Christians, concerning the mere humanity of our Lord. And to this class
belongs the learned Dr. Priestley, who says, in his letters to Dr. Horsley,.
" I have frequently avowed myself not to be a believer in the inspiration
of the evangehsts and apostles, as writers : I therefore hold the subject
of the miraculous conception to be one, with respect to which any person
is fully at liberty to think as the evidence shall appear to him." And,
consistently with this profession, he does not scruple to say in his History
of Corruptions, vol. ii, p. 370, " The Apostle Paul often reasons incon-
clusively, and therefore Avrote as any other person, of his turn of mind
and thinking, and in his situation, would have written, without imy par-
ticular inspu'ation."
Detestmg the Di-thcism of the Arians, and equally distant from the
error of Deists, and that of Tri-theists, the faithfvil mamtainers of the
cathoUc faith worship the one Supreme Being, accordmg to the three-
fold display which he hath made of himself. Did we worship three gods,
as some Deists suppose we do, we should worship tlu'ee separate beings.
But, abhorring Polytheism, we say with the Scripture, Although " there
are three that bear record in heaven," yet ojt&i oi rpsig sv sitfi, Hi ires
Uiium sunt, "These three [Divine subsistences] are one" substance.
These three Divine persons are one Jchovali. And we believe and
affirm it, for the sohd reasons which shall soon be produced.
Never did we say or think, cither that three persons arc one pcrsonj
400 A KATIONAL VINPICATION
or three gods are one God. Tliese contradictions never disgraced our
creeds. We only maintain, that the one Divine essence manifests
itself to us in three Divine subsistences most intimately joined and
absolutely inseparable. With the Scripture, we assert, that, as these
subsistences bore each a particular pait in our creation, so they are par-
ticularlv engaged in the securing of our eternal happiness ; the Father
chiefly planning, the Son chiefly executing, and the Holy Ghost chiefly
perfecting, the great work of our new creation.
All the difficulty, with regard to this mystery, consists, then, in believ-
ing a plain matter of fact ; namely, that we are commanded to " be
baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,"
or, to take for our one God, the one Supreme Being, manifesting himself
to us as our Friend and Father, in and through the Son, and by the
Spirit ; Jehovah, who is perfectly acquainted with his own nature, our
wants, and our dispositions, having seen, that, to win our love, and to
inflame our zeal for his service, it was proper to inform us, that, in his
adorable essence, there is a trinity of subsistences ; each of whom is
specially concerned in the stupendous work of our salvation, and each
of whom now bears the most endearing relation to mankind in general,
and to the Church in particular.
These Divine subsistences, (for so we beg leave to call them, according
to the most hteral meaning of the word u*o^«tfic, used by St. Paul, Heb.
i, 3,) were soon called persons by the Latin fathers, as appears from
Tertulhan, a writer of the second century, who, in his book against
Praxeas, frequently mentions the person of the Son, and the Divine Per-
sons, (Personam Filii, divinas Personas, <^'C.)
The primitive Christians, finding it inconvenient to repeat always at
full length the names of the three Divine subsistences, as our Lord
enumerates them in his charge of baptizing all nations, began about the
same time, both for brevity and variety's sake, to call them the trinity ;
and if, by renouncing that comprehensive word, we could remove the
prejudices of Deists against the truth contended for, we would give it up,
and always say, " The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,"
which is what we mean by the trinity.
In the meantime, if to worship the Son and the Spirit, as compre-
hended in the unity of the Father's Godhead, be to deserve the name of
Trinitarian, we glory in the appellation, provided it do not exclude that
of Unitarian ; for we do not less worsliip the unity in mysterious trinity,
than the trinity in the most perfect and unfathomable unity.
Hence it appears, that, if the word Unitarian mean a maintainer of
the Divine unity against idolaters of every description, there are two
sorts of Unitarians, who difier as widely, as the catholic faith differs
from Socinianism.
1. The Christian, or Catholic Unitarians, who maintain the Divine
unity against all sorts of Polytheists, the Arians themselves not excepted ;
but who, at the same time, assert, that this unity necessarily includes
the Father, the Word, and the Spirit ; it being far more unevangelical to
suppose, that the Father is the one Supreme Being in the universe,
exclusively of his Word and Spirit, than it is unconstitutional to say, thnt
the king is the one supreme legislative power in England, exclusive ot
the lords and commons.
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 401
2. The Jewish, or Socinian Unitarians, who not only confine the
Father to a barren, lonesome unity, but, so far as their influence reaches,
teai' from him his beloved Son, and even despoil him of his paternity.
Nor is it surprising, that when we consider them in this light, far from
giving them the name of Unitarians, we are tempted to call them dis.
uniters, dividers of God, and manglers of the Divine nature.
Judge, candid reader, between these Unitarians, so called, and us.
Like the false mother, who, to deceive Solomon, gave up to the dividing
sword, the child she claimed as her own ; do not these dividers betray
their want of love to the true Scriptural unity ? And when they try to
disunite God the Father from his beloved Son, with the sword they bor-
row from Caiaphas and Mohammed, do they not, before the judicious,
attack the Divine unity defended b}- St. John ? And is not their attempt
far more absurd and unnatural than that of making a rent between the
sun and its glorious effulgence ?
Man is not only prone to leave the narrow way of truth, but to run
from one extreme to the other. When the Divine unity was chiefly
revealed, mankind madly ran into idolatry. The Creator was forgotten ;
almost every creature was deemed a god. But since the Creator has
revealed, that, in the unity of the Divine essence, there are three
Divine subsistences, human perverseness starts back from that glorious
discoveiy, and the philosophers of this world, under pretence of standing
up for the Divine unity, and for the dignity of the Father, refuse Divine
honours to the second and to the third subsistence, without which the
Deity cannot exist, and the Father can be no Father.
Hence it appears tliat idolatry and impiety are the two precipices
between which the Christian's road lies all the way to heaven. Dr.
Priestley supposes that we are fallen into the former ; and we fear that
he and his admirers rush into the latter. Let us see who are mistaken.
It is one of the most important questions that was ever debated. Either
we are idolaters in worshipping that which by nature is not God, or the
Socinians are impious in refusing Divine worship to that which is really
God ; and what is more dreadful still, they worship a mangled notion of
Deity, and not the God revealed to us in the sacred Scriptures.
Not to worship the Word and the Spirit, when they were not explicitly
and directly revealed, was more excusable ; but what can be said for
the baptized people who set at naught the Deity of two of the Divine
hypostases so cleai-ly revealed to them ? If the Word and the Spirit
partake of Godhead jointly with the Father, can those who deny them
Divine honours trust m them for salvation 1 Do they not take large
strides to meet the danger which our Lord describes in these words,
" Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father?" And does not a punishment, peculiarly aggravated, await
those who perversely and finally " sin against the Holy Ghost ;" as, we
fear, all baptized people do when they deny his influences upon the soul,
as well as his vitality and rationality? For it is evident, that if the
Word and the Spiiit have an essential place in the Divine natin-e, by
. which we were created, to treat them as mere creatures is far worse
than not to render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's ; for it is
refusing unto God that which is God's — it is slighting the proper Son
of God on account of that vcr\' humiliation bv which he came to over-
Vol. III. ' 26
402 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
come our pride ; and it is resisting and grieving that Holy Spmt which
is to comfort us on earth, and to glorify u.s in heaven.
Having thus taken a general view of the catholic faith, let us now
consider the arguments which the wise men of this world bring to make
us ashamed of calling upon our Redeemer and our Sanctifier.
CHAPTER II.
A view of the sources whence the philosophers of the age draw their popular
arguments against the caiholic faith.
The royal academy of Paris having offered a prize to the man who
should write the best copy of verses upon the Divine nature, many
wrote largely on the awful subject ; but Professor Crousaz sent only
two lines, of which this is the sense ; " Cease to expect from man a
proper description of the Supreme Being : none can speak properly of
him but himself." And the judicious academicians agreed to crown this
short performance, because it gave the most exalted idea of him whose
dazzling gloiy calls for our silent adoration, and forbids the cui'iou3
disquisitions of our philosophical pride.
" Canst thou, by searching, find out God ?" says he in Job : " this
knowledge is as high as heaven, what canst thou do ? It is broader than
the sea, it is deeper than hell : what canst thou know ?" Job xi, 7.
" As the heavens are higher than the earth," saith the Lord, " so are
my thoughts [much more my nature] above your thoughts," Isaiali Iv, 9.
It is therefore one of the loudest dictates of reason, that, as we cannot
grasp the universe with our hands, so we cannot comprehend the Maker
of the universe with our thoughts.
Nevertheless, a set of men who make much ado about reason, afier
they have candidly acknowledged their ignorance with regard to the
Divine nature, are so inconsistent as to limit God, and to insinuate that
he can exist only according to their shallow, dark, and short-sighted
ideas. Hence it is, that, if he speak of his essence otherwise than they
have conceived it to be, they either reject his revelation, or so wrest and
distort it as to force it to speak their pre-conceived notions, in direct
opposition to the plain meaning of the words, to the general tenor of the
Scriptures, to the consent of the catholic Church in all ages, and to the
very form of their own baptism.
Is not the learned Dr. Priestley a striliing instance of this unphilo-
sophical conduct? Great philosopher in natural things, does he not
forget himself in things Divine ? Candid reader, to your unprejudiced
reason we make our appeal. With a wisdom worthy of a Christian
sage, he speaks thus in his Disquisitions on matter and spirit : " Of the
substance of the Deity we have no idea at all; and, therefore, all that we
can conceive or pronounce, concerning it, must be merely hypothetical."
(pp. 109, 110.) But has he behaved consistently with this reasonable
acknowledgment ? And may we not, upon his just concessions, raise
the following query?
Wiien a doctor has granted that toe have no idea at all of (he Divine
substance, 6fC, is he not both inconsistent and unreasonable, if, so far
THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 403
from pronouncing hijpotheticaUy concerning it, he absolutely declares that
the Divine substance, of which he has no idea at all, is incompatible with
the three Divine subsistences which the Scriptures call the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost ?
But Dr. Priestley, after having granted the former proposition in his
Disquisitions, absolutely pronounces the latter in his Corruptions, 6fc. Is
not, therefore. Dr. Priestley both inconsistent and unreasonable ?
We truly honour him for his parts, and sincerely love him for his
many social virtues ; but if he continually attack our Saviour's Divine
glory, (which is dearer to us than life itself,) he is too candid to refuse
us the liberty of trying to defeat his attacks by plainly pointing out the
flaw of his arguments, and the errors of his polemical conduct.
The learned doctor, continuing to speak as a true philosopher, says,
" We know there must be a first cause, because things do actually exist,
and could never have existed without a cause, and all secondary causes
necessarily lead us to a primarj^- one. But of the naiure of the existence
of this primaiy cause, concerning which we know nothing hut by its effects,
vx cannot have any conception. We are absolutely confounded, bewil-
dered, and lost, when we attempt to speculate concernuig it. This
speculation is attended v ith insupa-ahle difficulties. Every description
of the Divine Being in the New Testament gives us an idea of some-
thing filling and penetrating all things, and therefore of no known mode
of existence." (Disquisitions, pp. Ill, 146.)
Upon these second concessions we raise this second argument : a
doctor who grants that we luiow nothing of the first cause but by its
effects ; that we have no conception of its nature, that it has no known
mode of existence, and that this speculation is attended with insuperable
difficulties, must have an uncommon share of assurance or inattention,
if he pretend to argue the catholic Church out of the belief of the
trinity, because we have no (clear) conception of its nature, because it
has no known mode of existence, and because (in our present state) the
speculation of it is attended with some insuperable difficulties.
But Dr. Priestley has made all these fair concessions in his Disquisi-
tions, and yet he pretends to argue us out of our faith in the trinity,
because we have no clear conception of its nature, &:c. Hath not,
therefore, the doctor an uncommon share of assurance, or of inat-
tention?
Continuing to speak like a Christian philosopher, he says, " In two
circumstances that we do know, and probably in many others of which
ice have no knowledge at all, the human and Divine nature, finite and infi-
nite intelligence, 7nost essentially differ. The first is, that our attention
is necessarily confined to one tiling, whereas he who made, and conti-
nually supports all things, must equally attend to all things at the same
time ; which is a most astonishing but necessary attribute of the one
supreme God, of which v^e can form no conception, and consequently, in
this respect, no finite mind can he compared with the Divi7ie. Again : the
Deity not only attends to every thing, but must be capable of either pro-
ducing or annihilating any thing : so that in this respect also the Divine
nature must be essentially different from ours." (p. 106.) "There is,
therefore, upon the whole, manifold reason to conclude, that the Divine
nature, or essence, beside being simply unknown to us, has properties most
404 A KATIONAL VINDICATION
cssenticdly different from every thing else." (p. 107.) " God is, and ever
must remain, the incomprehensible." (p. 108.)
Upon this set of unavoidable concessions, made by Dr. Priestley, we
raise this third argument : a philosopher who grants that God is the
incomprehensible, that the human and Divine nature (of consequence
human and Divine personality) most essentially differ — and that the
Divine essence has properties most essentially different from every thing
else : a philosopher, I say, who publicly grants this, must be one of the
most prejudiced of all men if he reject the sacred trinity, into whose
name he was baptized, because the trinity is in some sense incompre-
hensible, and because he insists that three Divine persons must be divided
and separated like three huinan persons ; just as if he did not himself
maintain that the Divine essence, or personality, hath properties most
essentially different from men, angels, and eveiy thing else.
We could fill several pages with arguments equally demcmstrative of
the inconsistency and irrationality of the learned doctor's attacks upon
the catholic faith : but, not to tire out the reader's patience in the second
chapter of this work, we shall produce but one more set of the philo-
sophical concessions of which Dr. Priestley loses sight in his tJieological
works.
" In tlie first place," says he, " it must be confessed, with awful rever
ence, that we know but little of ourselves, and therefore much lc9s of our
Maker, even with respect to his attributes. We know but little of the
uvrks of God, and therefore certainly much less of his essence. In fact,
we have no proper idea of any essence whatever. It will hardly be pre-
tended, that we have any proper idea of the substance even of matter,
considered as divested of all its properties." {Disquisitions, pp. 103
and 104.)
From these last concessions, and from the tenor of Dr. Priestley's
Corruptions, it appears, that men who confess they know little of God's
works, and much less of his essence ; and who have not even any proper
idea of the essence of a straw, pretend, nevertheless, to know clearly
what is consistent with the Divine essence ; insomuch, that setting up
as reformers of the three creeds, they try to turn the doctrine of the
trinity out of the Church, and the Lamb of God out of his Divine and
everlasting throne.
Now is not this as absurd as if they said to the catholics, we have
indeed been all baptized in the name of the God of the Christians, that
is, " in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :"
but we new Gnostics, we modern reformers, who know nothing of the
Father's essence, nor even of the essence of an insect — we are, never-
theless, so perfectly acquainted with the Divine essence as to decide that
it is absolutely inconsistent with the nature of the Father, to have a living
Word, of a proper Son, and a rational Spirit ; and, therefore, reforming
our God himself, we strike the Word and the Holy Ghost out of the
number of the Divine persons, whom at our baptism we vowed to serve
jointly for ever.
O ye philosophers of the age, can men of sense admire your philo-
sophy any more than men of faith admire your orthodoxy ? May we
not hope, that when the blunders of your logic are brought to light, they
will be a proper antidote for the poison of your errors ? And will your
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 405
admirers be still so inattentive, as not to see, that your capital objections
against the trinity are sufficiently answered by applying to them the
short reply you make on another occasion : " This is an argument,
which derives all its force from our ignorance?" (See Disquisitions,
p. 82.)
But if the philosophers, who attack the catholic faith, cannot over-
throw the doctrine of the trinity by the arguments they draw from their
avowed ignorance of the Divine nature, they seem determined to make
us give up the point by arguments drawTi from fear and from shame.
Availing himself of our dread of Popeiy, and of our contempt for the
Popish error of transubstantiation, the learned doctor loses no opportunity
to compare that pretended mystery, that despicable absurdity, with the
awful mystery of the trinity ; exhorting us to reject them both, as
equally contrary to reason and common sense. Thus, in his Appeal to
the Professors of Christianity, speaking of the divinity of Christ, he says,
" The prevalence of so impious a doctrine can be ascribed to nothing
but that mystery of iniquity which began to work in the times of the
apostles themselves. This, among other shocking corruptions of Chris,
tianity, grew up whh the system of Popery.' After exalting a man into
a God, a creature into a Creator, men made a piece of bread into one also,
and then bowed down to, and worshipped the work of their own hands."
And in the Preface to his Disquisitions, he writes, " Most Protestants will
avow they have inade up their minds with respect to the Popish doctrine
of transuhstantiaiion, so as to be justified in refusing even to lose their
time in reading what may be addressed to them on it ; and I avow it
with respect to the doctrine of the trinity."
As these comparisons are the second store house, whence the learned
doctor draws his arguments against our supposed idolatry, it is proper
to show the unreasonableness of his method. For this, three remarks
will, I hope, be sufficient.
1. The question between Dr. Priestley and us is. Whether there are
three Divine subsistences in the one Divine essence ? Now it is plain,
that to deny this proposition, as reasonably as we deny that bread is
flesh, and that wine is human blood, we must be as well acquainted with
the nature of the Divine essence, and of Divine personality, as we are
with the taste of bread and wine. But how widely different is the case,
the doctor himself being judge ! Do not his Disquisitions assert, that
" the Divine essence hath properties most essentially different from every
thing else, — that of God's substance we have no idea at all — and that he
must for ever remain the incomprehensible ?" Therefore, if God hath
revealed, that he exists with the three personal distinctions of Father,
Word, and Holy Ghost, the learned doctor, after his concessions, can
never denj^ it, without exposing at once his piety, his philosophy, his
logic, and his common sense ; unless he should make it appear, that he
is the first man who can pertinently speak of what he has no idea at all,
and who perfectly comprehends what must for ever remain incompre-
hensible. But,
2. The question between the popes and us, ^v'ith respect to transub-
stantiation, IS quite within our reach ; since it is only whether bread be
flesh and bones ; whether wine be human blood ; whether the same iden-
tical body can be wholly in heaven, and in a million of places on earth.
406 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
al the same time ; and whether a thin round wafer, an mch in diameter,
is the real person of a man five or six feet high. Here we only decide
about things known to us from the cradle, and concerning which our
experience, and our five senses, help us to form a right judgment, agree-
able to the tenor of the Scriptures. Therefore,
3. Considering that the two cases are diametrically contrary, and
differ as much as the depths of the Divine nature differ from a piece of
bread ; as much as the most incomprehensible thing in heaven differs
from the things we know best upon earth, — we are bold to say, that,
when the learned doctor involves the Protestant worshippers of the
trinity, and the Popish worshippers of a bit of bread, in the same
charge of absurd idolatry, he betrays as great a degree of unphiloso-
phical prejudice, and illogical reasoning, as ever a learned and wise
man was driven to in the height of a disputation for a favourite error.
" Do what you can," replies the learned doctor, " you must either
sacrifice the unity to the trinity, or the trinity to the unity ; for they are
incompatible." But who says it? Certainly not our Lord who com-
mands all nations to be baptized into the one name of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and if Dr. Priestley say it, then he says it
without knowing it ; for, speaking like a judicious philosopher, he has
just told us, that " probably the Divine nature, beside being simply un.
known to us, more essentially differs from the human in many circum-
stances of which we have no knowledge at all." To this sufficient
answer we beg leave to add an illustration which may throw some light
upon the doctor's unphilosophical positiveness.
Modern physicians justly maintain the circulation of the blood, which
being carried from the heart through the arteries, flows back to it by
the veins. But a learned doctor, very fond of unity, availing himself
of the connection which the arteries have with the veins in all the extre-
mities of the body, insists that one set of vessels is more agreeable to the
simplicity of the human frame. What ! says he, arteries ! veins ! and
lymphatic vessels too ! I pronounce that one set of uniform, circular ves-
sels is quite sufficient. You must, therefore, sacrifice the arteries to the
veins, or the veins to the arteries ; for they are quite mcompatible. This
doginatical positiveness of the Unitarian anatomist would surprise us the
more, if we had just heard him say that there are many things in anatomy
of which he has no knowledge at all, and assert that the minute ramifica-
tions, and delicate connections of the vessels which compose the human
frame are, and must for ever remain incomprehensible to those who have
such feeble and imperfect organs.
From this simile, which, we hope, is not improper, we infer, that if
positiveness on this anatomical question would not become the learning
and modesty of a doctor in physic, a like degree of peremptoriness and
assurance, in a matter infinitely more out of our reach, is as unsuitable to
the humble candour of a doctor in divinity, and to the cautious wisdom
of a philosopher.
Having thus taken a general view of the principal sources whence the
philosophers of the age draw their popular arguments against the catho-
lic faith : and having, we hope, by this means removed some prejudices
out of the way, the cautious reader will more candidly consider the
main question which is proposed in the next chapter.
or THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 407
CHAPTER III.
That, according to (lie Scriptures, God the Father has a proper Son, by
whom he made, governs, and will judge the vxnid.
We cannot read the Divine oracles without finding out this capital
truth, that God, considered as Father, has an only begotten Son, called
the Logos or the Word, whom " he loved before the foundation of the
world," John xvii, 24 ; " who is the express image of his person," Heb,
1,3; " by whom he made the worlds, who was in the beginning with
God, and was God," John i, 1.
We need only to consider the first verse of Genesis, to find an intima-
tion of this capital truth. " In the beginning," says Moses, " Elohim,
the gods, [in the plural number, or God considered in the distinctions
peculiar to his nature,] he created the heaven and the earth." The
learned Imow that Elohim is a word in the plural number, signifying
more exactly gods than God ; and accordingly it is sometimes so trans-
lated in our Bible : " Thou shalt have no other Elohim [no other gods\
but me," Exod. xx. " The Elohim doth know, that ye shall be as the
Elohim ;" which is rendered by the Septuagint, and in our version,
" Ck>d doth know, that ye shall be as gods," Gen. iii, 5 ; a proof this,
even to an illiterate reader, that the very first line of the Bible gives us
some notice of the mysterious distinctions in the Divine nature, one of
which is called the Spirit in the very next verse : " and the Spikit of
the Elohim moved on the face of the waters."
" In the beginning was the Word," the Son the second of the distinc-
tions in the Godhead, says St. John, " and the Word was with God " the
Father, " and was God," partaking of the Divine nature in union with the
Father, John i, 1.
Is man to be created ? these Divine subsistences consult together : the
Elohim says, " Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness :"
and when man is fallen in attempting to be like the Elohim, God says,
" Behold, he is become like one of us — to know good and evil !"
Light is thrown upon this mysterious language, where David, speak-
ing of the Son manifested in the flesh, introduces Jehovah as saying to
the Messiah, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Struck
with the awfulness of this decree, or Divine declaration, the psalmist
cries out, " Serve Jehovah with fear, kiss the Son," give him the kiss
of adoration by trusting in him as Jehovah Saviour, " kiss him, lest ye
perisli out of the way " of saving faith, if his " wrath " (the terrible wrath
of the Lamb, described Rev. vi, 16,) "be kindled but a little. Blessed
are all they that put their tmst in him," Psalm ii, 7, 11, 12. And to
prove that this Son of Jehovah, whom we are to " ti'ust in " under pain of
destruction, is not a 7nere man, as Dr. Priestley supposes, but the proper
Son of God, we need only compare with the above these two scriptures :
"Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in him is everlasting strength.
Cursed is the man that trustcth in man, and whose lieart departeth from
Jehovah," Isa. xxvi, 4, and Jer. xvii, 5.
Agur had a sight of the mystery revealed in the second Psalm, when
he asks, " Who hath established the earth ? What is his name, and what
is his Son's name ?" Prov. xxx, 4. And that this everlasting Son was,
408 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
at times, the object of the rehgious addresses of prophets and kings,
appears from these words of the psalmist : " All kings shall fall down
before him, and all nations shall serve him," Psalm Lxxii, 11. "And
worship him, all ye gods," Psalm xcvii, 7, the very passage to which St.
Paul alludes, where he writes, " When God bringeth in his first begot-
ten into the world, he saith. Let all the angels of God worship him,"
Hebrews i, 6.
But what was only on particular occasions taught the prophets, was
continually held out to view by the apostles. God the Son, or " the Son
of God," or " God manifested in the flesh," is the sum of the New Tes-
tament. He plainly spoke of God the Father ; and with the blood of the
human nature, which he assumed for our salvation, he publicly sealed
this great truth, " I am the Son of God : before Abraham was, I am."
He speaks of his eternal Father, as of his proper and natural Father,
with whom he shared DiA'ine honours before he appeared upon earth.
"And now, O Father," says he, "glorify thou me, [in my complex
nature,] with thine own self, [at thy right hand,] with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was," John xvii, 5. Speaking of his
appearance as Son of man, he calls himself both " the Son of God," and
"the Son of man, whom God the Father hath sealed," John x, 36, and
vi, 27. St. Paul speaks the same language when he mentions "the
Church in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thess. i, 1.
If he wishes " peace to the Ephesians," it is " from God the Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ," Eph. vi, 23. If he prays that Titus and Timo-
thy may be filled with grace, he looks up to " God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour," Titus i, 4. St. Jude salutes those who
are " sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ,"
Jude 1. St. Peter, full of the glorious idea of the trinity, writes to them
that "are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit," unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood
of "Jesus Christ," 1 Peter i, 2. In his second epistle, he adds, " We
were eye witnesses of his Majesty ; for he received from God the Father
honour and gloiy, when there came such a voice from the excellent
glory. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," 2 Peter i, 17.
And St. John, who declares, " the Son of God is come, the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his gloiy, the glory of
the only begotten of the Father ;" St. John, I say, salutes the elect lady,
by wishing her " mercy from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Father," 2 John 3 ; John i, 1, 14 ; 1 John v, 20.
It is not possible that an unprejudiced person should read the Scrip,
tures without being struck with this thought. If the Gospel teaches us
that there is in the Godhead one who is called God the Father, it teaches
us, at least indirectly, that there is another who may whh propriety be
called the only begotten, or proper Son of God — a Son by nature, and
not barely a Son by creation, as Adam, or by adoption, as St. Paul and
St. John, or by the resurrection from the dead, as those saints who came
out of their graves when our great High Priest died and rose again to
overcome death and the grave. And, therefore, unless the Gospel sets
before us the most strange temptation to idolatry, (the bare supposition
of which is not to be allowed for a moment,) there is in the Godhead a
Son, who was in the beginning with God the Father, and who was as
OF THK CATHOLIC FAITH. 409
truly God with him, as Isaac, the proper son of tlie man Abraham, was
truly man, like his father.
Tliis will appear beyond all doubt, if the reader weigh the following
Scriptural remarks upon our Lord's Sonship.
f (1.) Some are the created sons of God, whether they are superna-
turally formed out of nothing, as angels, or of pre-existent matter, as our
first parents. (2.) Others are the reputed sons of God, as all those who
profess to serve him with filial reverence. (3.) Others are titular sons
of God, as all those to whom a share of God's supreme authority has
been delegated. (4.) Others are (in one sense) the adopted sons of God,
as St. John, and all those who, receiving by faith the proper Son, and
being led by the Spirit, receive the initial adoption — namely, " the re-
demption of their soul." And (5.) Others, (as Enoch, Elijah, and the
saints who now share in the first resurrection,) being sons of the resur-
rection, are the adopted sons of God in the full sense of the word; for
they have receiced the fiiU " adoption, namely, the redemption of their
body," Luke xx, 36, and Rom. viii, 14, 23.
The first and last of these five degrees of sonship are the most
extraordinary : but neither is peculiar to our Lord. For if with respect
to his humanity, he w as miraculously and supernaturally formed of the
substance of his virgin mother, Mary, Adam was thus formed of the
substance of our then virgin mother, the earth ; and if our Lord burst
triumphantly out of the womb of the grave, on the day of liis resurrec-
tion, so did several of the saints, their graves three days before being
opened miraculously, when he entered as Prince of Life into the terri-
tories of death ; for, when " he gave up the ghost, the earth did quake,
the rocks rent, the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which
slept, arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection, and
went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." It could not be said,
thei-efore, that, as Son of the resurrection, he is God's " only begotten
Son," seeing many rose with or immediately after him, even the multi-
tude of rescued prisoners, who graced his triumph when " he ascended
up on high, leading captivity captive." It follows, then, that our Lord
hath a peculiar and incommunicable Sonship, of which these are some
of the principal characters.
1. Though he is a created Son of God, as well as Adam, with respect
to his humanity; yet, with regard to his superior nature, he is such a
Son " by whom the Father made the worlds," Heb. i, 2. " The world
was made by him : for by him all things were made, and without him
was not any thing made that was made," John i, 3, 10. Hence St.
Paul, speaking of Adam and of Christ, says, " The first man, Adam,
was made a living soul ; the last Adam a quickening Spirit. The first
man is of the earth, earthy : but the second man is the Lord from
heaven," 1 Cor. xv, 4, .5, 47.
2. Hence ovir Lord spake in the most positive manner of his coming
from heaven : " I proceeded forth and came from God," John viii, 42.
" I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world : again I
leave the world and go to the Father," John xvi, 28. " I came down
from heaven to do the will of him that sent me. This is my Father's
will that sent me, that ever)^" one who seeth the Son, and believeth on
him, may have eternal life : and I will raise him up at the last day."
410 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
And when the Jews murmured at him, because he said, " I am the bread
which came down from heaven" — when they whispered, " Is not this
Jesus, the son of Joseph ? how is it then that he saith, I came down
from heaven ?" Our Lord saith, " Doth this offend you ? What, and if
ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before !" John
vi, 38, 40, 42, 62. And, alluding to " the glory which Christ had with
the Father before the world was," Jolm xviii, 5, John the Baptist says
of him, " He that cometh from above, is above all : he that is of the
earth, is earthly, and speaketh of the earth : he that cometh from heaven
is above all," John iii, 31. Who does not see, that if our Lord and his
forerunner be allowed to have spoken the words of soberness and truth,
he reigned in glory with the Father before his incarnation ?
John the Baptist was older than our Saviour according to his humanity,
and began to preach before him ; nevertheless, with regard to his Deity,
John said, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketlv away the sins of
the world : this is he of whom I spake : he that cometh after me is
preferred before me ; for he was before me," John i, 15, 29. And well
might he say so, since our Lord himself says, " Before Abraham was, I
am ;" since St. John declares that the " Word was, in the beginning,
with God, [the Father,] and was God ;" and since David and St. Paul
agree to say of him, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever — thou.
Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the
heavens are the work of thy hands : they shall peiish, but thou remauiest :
they shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy
years fail not."
3. He is a Son so exalted above all that are called gods upon earth,
that St. Paul fears not to say, " He is the image of the invisible God,"
as a son is the image of his father, " the first born of every creature,"
that is, begotten before any creature : — " For," adds the apostle, showing
that this is his true meaning, " by him were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible ; whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers — all things were,
created by him, and for him : and he is before all things, [before all
creatures,] and by him all things consist," Col. i, 15, &c.
4. He is such a Son as can say, " AH things that the Father hath, are
mine," being full}^ possessed of the most incommunicable attributes of
the Supreme Being. If the Father say, "I Jehovah search the heart :
I try the reins," Jer. xvii, 10, — the Son says, with equal truth, " I am he
that searcheth the reins and the heart," Rev. ii, 23. If Solomon said to
the Father, " Thou, even thou, only knowest the hearts of all the chil-
dren of men," 1 Kings viii, 39, — the apostles say to the Son, " Thou
knowest the hearts of all men," Acts i, 24 ; John ii, 24. Doth the
Father say, " I am the first, and I am the last ; and beside me there is
no God?" Isa. xliv, 6, — the Son says, "I am the first, and I am the
last ; I and the Father are one," Rev. i, 17 ; John x, 80. Doth the
Father say, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end ?"
Rev. i, 8, — the Son, his adequate image, echoes back the awful declara-
tion, and says, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,"
Rev. xxii, 1 3. Is the Father called " King of kings, and Lord of lords ?"
1 Tim. vi, 15, — the Son is proclaimed "Lord of lords, and King of
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 411
kings," Rev. xvii, 14. Doth St. Paul call the Father " Lord of all?"
Rom. X, 12, — St. Peter says of the Son, " He is Lord of all," Acts x, 36.
And to crown these glorious testimonies, if Isaiah names Jehovah "the
mighty God," Isa. x, 21, he gives the very same title to the Son, chap.
ix, 6, — and the apostle calls him, "Over all, God blessed for ever,"
Rom. ix, 5. And if the Father is so incomprehensible, that " no one
knoweth him fully but the Son," the Son is likewise so incomprehensible
that " no one knoweth him fully but the Father," Matt, xi, 27. " If no
man cometh to the Father but by the Son," John xiv, 6, " no man can
come to me (says the Son) except the Father draw him," John vi, 44.
And as Philip did not satisfactorily know the Father before the joyful
day in which the Son revealed him to the apostles by the Spirit, see
John xiv, 8, 20, 23, and Acts ii, 1, so St. Paul did not satisfactorily know
the Son till " it pleased God to reveal his Son in him, by filling him with
the Holy Ghost," who alone can savingly teach us to "call Jesus Christ
Lord, my Lord, and my God !" Gal. i, 16 ; Acts ix, 17, and 1 Cor. xii, 3.
From this common, equal, and full paz'ticipation of the highest titles,
and most distinguishing perfections of the Supreme Being, it follows,
that the Son (with respect to Deity) is as perfectly equal to the Father,
though all the Son's Deity came from his Dwine Father ; as Isaac (with
respect to humanity) was equal to Abraham, though all the humanity of
Isaac came from his human parent.
5. Accordingly our Lord was not ^only declared " Son of God with
power," by his rising from the dead ; but he declared himself the very
source and fountain of life : " I am the resurrection and the life : he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and who-
soever liveth and beheveth in me, shall never die," John xi, 25. Could
the Father speak stronger words to " declare himself the true and living
God f Nor ought we to wonder that the Son should speak in so lofty
a manner ; for being the truth itself, he must speak the truth — he must
speak as the oracles of God, which represent the Father and the Son as
so perfectly united, that they are one inexhaustible spring of hfe and
action, of grace and peace. " No man hath seen God, [the Father,] at
any time : the only begotten Son, who is [even while on earth] in the
bosom of the Father, [and who came in the flesh,] he hath declared
him," John i, 18. "I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me,"
John viii, 16. " Believe that the Father is in me, and I in him," John
X, 38. " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father : I am in the
Father, and the Father is in me," John xiv, 9, 11. "They have not
known the Father nor me," John xvi, 3. "Whoso denieth the Son,
hath not the Father : he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father
also," 1 John ii, 23, &c. " Mercy from God the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father : he that abideth in Christ,
hath the Father and the Son," 2 John, 3, 9. " If ye had known
me, ye would have known my Father also," John xiv, 7. " He that
honouretli not the Son, honoureth not the Father," John v, 23. " Our
fellowship is with the Father and his Son," 1 John i, 3.
From these and the many scriptures where mercy and all blessings
are equally and jointly implored from God the Father, and from the Son
of God, we conclude that, as the natural sun, and the blazing radiance
which it continually generates, make one wonderful luminary — eo the
412 A RATTOXAL VINDICATION
Father and the Son, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, make
but one God over all, blessed for ever.
CHAPTER IV.
That our Lard claimed the Divine honour of being the proper Son of God
the Father, and laid down his human life in proof of this very truth.
Jesus Christ, says St. Paul, " being in the foi*m of God, thought it
not I'obbery to be equal with God, but took upon him the form of a ser-
vant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion
as a man, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,"
Phil, ii, 6, &c. Hence the carnal Jews, who judged of him merely
according to their carnal reason, being offended at him, verified the
truth of Isaiah's prophecy : " He is despised and rejected of men, a man
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." But " who shall declare his
generation ?" The Jews, I say, judging of him according to the flesh,
charged him with blasphemy, and " sought to kill him because he said
that God was his [i5iov proper] Father, making himself equal with God ;"
although, like a true Son, he acknowledged that the Father (in point of
paternity) was greater than he, yet he never cleared himself of the sup.
posed blasphemy, but defended himself by proper appeals to his works :
" I and the Father are one," [sv srffxsv,] so intimately one, that " the Son
can do nothing of himself, but [like a Divine Son, in the most perfect
unity with his Father who precedes him] he does what he seeth the
Fatlier do : for what things soever the Father doeth, those also doeth the
Son likewise," whether they be the creation, or the preservation of
worlds, the fixing, or the controlling tlie laws of nature. " For as the
Father hath [a Divine and quickening] life in himself, so hath he given
to the Son to have [a Divine and quickening] hfe in himself. For as
the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son
quickeneth whom he will. [Nay, added our Lord, there is one thing
which the Father leaves entirely to the Son :] for the Father judgeth no
man ; but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should
honour the Son as they honour the Father," John v, 18, 26 ; x, 30.
Thus our Lord, far from pleading not guilty to the charge of " making
himself equal with God," proved, by two unanswerable reasons, that
Divine honours are due to him as well as to the Father : (1.) He does
the very works of his Father jointly with him : and (2.) The Father
hath, over and above, committed to him the most awful and tremendous
of all works — that of judicially killing and saving alive ; " for the Father
judgeth no man," in the daily course of providence, as well as in the
great day : this Divine work is the Son's honourable prerogative, that
none should scruple to " honour him as they honour the Father."
Let us see how this Divine Son defended himself against the same
charge on another occasion. When he had asserted that " he and his
Father were one, the Jews took up stones again to stone him, saying.
We stone thee for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest
thyself God." What a fair opportunity had our Lord here to disclaim
Divine honours, and to set kindly the Jews to rights, if they had mis-
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 413
taken his meamng ! But far from doing this, he tries to convince them
of his divinity by a rational argument, and by a farther appeal to his
godlike works.
1. By a rational argument : " Is it not (saith he) written in your law,
I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of
God came, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctitied and sent into
the world, Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the Son of God ]"
John X, 31, &ic. Tlie force of this argument may be better understood
by a short paraphrase. It is just as it" our Lord had said. If the Holy
Ghost, by the mouth of David, gives the honorary title of gods to the
prophets, judges, and kings of Israel, whom God appointed to be types
of me, the Head of the prophets, and the Judge of all the earth, do ye
not act very inconsistently with the Scriptures, which cannot be broken,
when you suppose that I blaspheme, by saying, " I am the Son of God?"
If the bare types and forerunners of me are titular gods in your own
account, are you not as unreasonable as you are unjust, to be offended
at me for saving, " I am the Son of God ?" whereas I might have roundly
said, that I am in union with my Father, " God over all, blessed for
ever." If my shadows are called gods without blasphemy, do ye not
break at once through the word of God, and through the bounds of com-
mon sense, when ye say, that I, the sum and substance of all types and
figures — I, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who am sent by
my Father, with godlike credentials, blaspheme, when I declare that " I
am the Son [the proper Son] of God ?"
2. After our Lord had advanced this convincing argument, he pro-
ceeded to an argument, the strength of which Wcis telt by all those who
had eyes and a grain of candour, I mean an appeal to his works. " If
I do not the works of my Father, [the works of God,] believe me not^
But if I do, though ye believe not me, beUeve the works ; so shall ye
know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him, [or to use his
former expression,] that I and my Father are one," John x, 30, 37, 38.
The effect of this last argument shows, that our Lord, far from having
made any concession to the Jews, stood to his point, viz. that " he and
the Father are one :" that being the proper "Son of God," he is, in union
with his Father, the " one true God ;" which he instantly proved by a
Divine work : for the Jews, enraged at what appeared to them confirmed
blasphemy, " sought again to take him ;" but (notwithstanding their
impetuous fury) " he escaped out of their hands," John x, 39.
And when at last he suffered himself to be apprehended by them, for
the establishment of our faith, and (o leave the enemies of his divinity,
and the inconsistent admirers of liis humanity, without excuse, he sealed
with his blood the glorious truth, for which he had been stoned again
and agaiia ; namely, that he was the veiy Son of God, to whom the
psalmist says, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : therefore God,
thy God [and thy Father] hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness,"
or hath appointed thee Christ for ever, Psalm xvi, 6. For when the
high priest, standing " up in the midst, asked him. Art thou the Christ ?
[that very Christ of whom the Prophet Micah saith, ' Out of Bethlehem
shall come forth he that shall be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting ?' Micah v, 2.] Art thou the Son
of the Blessed ?" that very Son, of whom the Prophet Isaiah says, Unto
414 A RATIONAL VINDICATION'
US " the Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders,
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace ?" To this double question,
which the Jews certainly understood in the high sense of the well-known
prophecies by which 1 illustrate them, as appears from Matt, ii, 4, &c —
to this awful question Jesus answered, " I a3i ; and ye shall see the Son
of man [whom ye now reject because his form of God is veiled under
the form of a servant] sitting on the right hand of Power, and coming
[in his form of God] in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest
rent his clothes, and said, Ye have heard the blasphemy : what think
ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death," Mark xiv, 61,
&,c. So true it is, that the open or secret enemies of our Lord's Deity,
who, when we speak of his pre-existence, and of the adoration due to
him, as the everlasting Son of the blessed and everlasting Father, cry
out. Absurdity ! Blasphemy ! Idolatry ! and, in their indignation, rend
the Church as Caiaphas rent liis garments, have drunk into the very
spirit of the priests and the Pharisees, who led the van of the Jewish mob
when it cried, " Away with him !" He is only Joseph and Mary's son,
and of course a proud blasphemer ; for " he says that God is his [real
and proper] Father, making himself equal with God," John v, 18.*
CHAPTER V,
The view which the apostles give of Christ., after their most perfect illumi-
nation by the Spirit of truth.
1. If we wish to see the true character of our Lord more fully ascer-
tained, we cannot do better than attentively consider the view which the
evangehsts and apostles have given us of it. The Lord Jesus had
informed them, " that he had many things to say unto them," but, adda
he, " ye camiot bear them now : howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is
come, he shall guide you into all the truth : he shall glorify me ; for he
shall receive of mme, and shall show it unto you : all things that the
Father hath are mine : therefore said I, he shall receive of mine, and
shall show it unto you," John xvi, 12. Now, it is well known, they
wrote all their epistles and the four Gospels after the accompHshment of
this gracious promise ; that is, after the " Spirit of truth had guided them
into all the truth," after he had " glorified Christ, by receiving and show-
ing unto them of the things which are his." We may, therefore, not-
withstanding Dr. Priestley's unbelief in this matter, be fully assured of
their inspiration, as writers as well as speakers; and may absolutely
depend upon the certain truth of what they have delivered, especially
respecting so important a point as the real character and dignity of their
Master and Saviour, the true knowledge of whom it was the chief office
of this Spirit of truth to reveal, and their chief business to teach.
2. Now, in looking over their writings, we not only meet with many
expressions and sentences dropped, as it were, by the by, when they had
' Thus far Mr. Fletcher had proceeded whoi he waa called to his reward.
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 415
principally some other subject in hand, which expressions and sentences,
however, give us great light in this matter ; but we find several pas-
sages, written professedly, and of set purpose, to acquaint mankind with
the character of Christ. And these passages we must especially attend
to, if we desire to form a true judgment concerning him. Most of them,
indeed, have abeady been transiently mentioned by Mr. Fletcher in the
third chapter ; in which the doctrine of the peculiar and proper Sonship
of Christ has been stated and explained in the language of the inspired
writers : but it may be well to review and examine two or three of those
passages more particularly, that we may be more fully informed of his
true dignity and glory.
3. The first paragraph of this kind that claims our attention is that
which occurs in the beginning of St. Jolm's Gospel. " In the beginning
(says that greatly favoured and peculiarly enlightened apostle) was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the begiiming with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men ; and the light shineth in dark-
ness, and the darkness comprehended it not," ver 8. John was " not
that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light — ^\\'hich was the
true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He
was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not : but as
many as received him, to them gave he the privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. And the Word was
made flesii, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
4. " These words (says Bishop Burnet) seem veiy plain, and the place
where they are put by St. John, in the front of his Gospel, — as it were
an inscription upon it or an introduction to it, — makes it veiy evident that
he, who of all the writers of the New Testament, has the greatest plain-
ness and simplicity of style, would not put words here, such as were not
to be understood in a plain and literal signification, without any key to
lead us to any other sense of them. This had been to lay a stone of
stumblmg in the very threshold ; particularly to the Jews, who were apt
to cavil at Christianity, and were particularly jealous of every thing that
savoured of idolatry, or of a plurality of gods. And upon this occasion
I desire one thing to be observed, with relation to all those subtile expo-
sitions, which those who oppose this docti'ine put upon many of those
places by which we prove it : that they represent the apostles as magni-
fying Christ, in words, which, at first sound, seem to import his being the
true God ; and yet they hold, that in all these they had another sense,
and a reserve of some other interpretation of which their words were
capable. But can this be thought fair dealing ? Does it look like their
being honest men to write thus, not to say men inspired in what they
preached and wrote ? and not rather like impostors, to use so many sub-
lime and lofty expressions concerning Christ, as God, if all these must
be taken down to so low a sense, as to signify only that he was miracu-
lously formed, and endued with an extraordinary power of miracles, and
an authority to deliver a new religion to the world : and that he was, in
consideration of the exemplary death, (which he underwent so patiently)
416 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
raised up from the grave, and had Divine honours conferred upon him ?
In such a hypothesis as this, the world faUing in so naturally with the
excessive magnifying, and even the deifying of Avonderful men, it had
been necessary to have prevented any such mistakes, and to have guarded
against the belief of them, rather than to have used a continued strain
of expressions that seem to caiTy men violently into them, and that can
hardly, nay, very hardly be softened by all the skill of critics, to bear any
other sense.
5 " It is to be observed farther, that when St. John wrote his Gospel,
there were three sorts of men particularly to be considered. The Jews
who could bear nothing that savoured of idolatry : so no stumbling
block was to be laid in their way, to give them deeper prejudices against
Christianity. Next to these were the Gentiles, who, having worshipped
a variety of gods, were not to be indulged in any thing that might seem
to favour their Polytheism. In fact, we find particular caution used in
the New Testament against the worshipping of angels or saints. How
can it, therefore, be imagined, that words would have been used, that in
the plain signification which arose out of the first hearing of them, im-
ported that a man was God, if this had not been strictly true ? The
apostles ought, and must have used a particular care to have avoided all
such expressions, if they had not been literally true. The third sort of
men in St. John's time were those of whom intimation is frequently
given, through all the epistles, who were then endeavouring to corrupt
the purity of the Christian doctrine, and to accommodate it so both to the
Jew and to the Gentile, as to avoid the cross and the persecution on the
account of it. Church histor\', and the earliest writers after St. John
assure us, that Ebion and Cerinthus denied the divinity of Christ, and
asserted that he was a mere man. Controversy naturally cairies men
to speak exactly ; and among human writers those who let things fall
more carelessly from their pens, when they apprehended no danger or
difficulty, are more correct both in their thoughts and expressions, when
things are disputed ; therefore, if we should no otherwise regard St. John
than as an ordinary, cautious, and careful man, we must beUeve that he
weighed all his words in that point Avhich was then the matter in ques-
tion ; and to clear which, we have good ground to believe, both from the
testimony of ancient writers, and from the method which he })ursues
quite through the whole, that he wrote his Gospel : and that, therefore,
every part of it, but this beginning of it more especially, was written,
and is to be understood in the sense which the words naturally import."
6. This being premised, I would observe upon this passage, first, here
is a person spoken of termed the Logos or Word, ver. 1 ; and the " only
begotten of the Father," ver. 14. Secondly, this person is distinguished
from God the Father, whose Word he is, for he is said to be with God,
" The Word was witli God ;" and again, " The same was in the begin-
ning with God, <pof Tov ^sov." Thirdly, He is said to have existed in the
beginning. " In the beginning was the W^ord ;" that is, as plainly ap-
pears from the third verse, in which " all things" are said to be " made
by him," before any creature was created, before any man or angel
existed. Fourthly, He is then said by the apostle to have been ('od, not
a titular god, or a god by office, a governor, surely, for there whs then
no creature for him to govern, or with respect to whom he could bear
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 417
the title or sustain the office of a god in that sense. He must therefore
have been God by nature, partaking of real and proper Deity, in union
with the Father, whose Word he was.* This appears manifestly from
the apostle's assuring us, fifthly, that " all things were made by him,
and that without him was not any thing made that was made," ver. 3,
and in particular, ver. 10, that " the world [viz. this world] was made
by him," it being perfectly certain and allowed on all hands, that as the
author of the Papistic to the Hebrews declares, he " that built all things is
God," properly so, creating power being undoubtedly Divine, if any
power is so. See Rom. i, 20, 25.
7. It appears also from St. John's affirming, sixthly, " In him was
life, and the life was the light of men ; and the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness coniprehendcth it not." For this life which was in him,
in the beginning, and was " the light of men," that is, the source of all
their wisdom, holiness, and happiness, before thoir fall, and which, after
their fall, " shineth in the darkness," — that is, amidst the ignorance, sin,
and misery of their fallen state : this life, I say, speaks him to be a
living agent, and that agent to be Divine. It appears, seventhly, from
his being termed, ver. 9, " the true light which enhghteneth every man
that Cometh into the world :" for as no particular messenger from God
hath ever appeared upon earth, whose doctrine hath been a mean of
enlightening all flesh, those that went beibre him and had lived from the
begimiing, as well as those that were his cotemporaries, or should come
after him ; so we must of necessity understand this of that internal light,
which, shinuig upon the understanding and conscience of even the most
barbarous and brutal, and least civilized of mankind, enables them, in
many instances, to distinguish right fi'om wrong, and is a check upon
them in their behaviour from day to day, restraining them from many vices,
or accusing or condemning them when they commit those vices, and at
the same time prompting them to some virtues. Now, as the Word here
spoken of is affirmed to be this light, he must be one with that omnipre-
sent and eternal Being, who, through the several ages of the world, has
been and is visiting the mmds of all manldnd, by his pVesence, not leaving
himself without witness in any, being, in the fullest sense of the word,
*' the light of the world," ev^en of the whole world. Accordingly he
declares. Rev. iii, 20, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock," viz.
at the door of every heart. " If any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me ;"
words which no mere creature can possibly use with ti'uth.
* " It is to mc most incredible," says Dr. Doddridge, " tliat when the Jews were
60 exceedingly averse to idolatry, and the Gentiles so unhappily prone to it, tliat
euch a plain writer as this apostle should lay so dangerous a stumbling block in the
very threshold of his work, and represent it as the Christian doctrine, that in the
beginning of all things there were two gods, one supreme, and the other subordi.
hate : a difficulty, which, if possible, would be yet farther increased, by recollect-
ing what so many ancient writers assert, that this Gospel was written with a par.
ticular view of opposing the Cerintliians and Ebionites, on which account a greater
accuracy of expression must have been necessary. On the other hand, to conceive
of Christ as a distinct (or separate) and co-ordinate God, would be equally incon-
Bistent with the n\ost express declarations of Scripture, and far more irroconcil,
able with reason. The order of the words in the original, (9co( vv o ^oyoi) is such,
that Fome have thought the clause might more exactly be translated, God was iks
Word."
Vol. UI. 27
418 A RATIONAI VINDICATION
8. Hence, eighthly, St. John, in a parallel passage in his first epistle,
i, 1, 2, not only terms him " the Word of hfe," (an expression which,
however, would but ill suit a mere external messenger,) but the Ufe
itself, yea, the " eternal hfe," that " was with the Father, and has been
manifested unto us ;" and here, ver. 14, assures us, he " is full of truth
and grace ;" and again, ver. 16, that " out of his fulness they had all
received grace for grace," or, as X"P'v "^'■' X"P''^°S i^ay be rendered,
" grace upon grace ;" which things are certainly too much to be affirmed
of any creature, however exalted. How can a creature be " lile," the
*' eternal hfe," " full of truth and grace" himself, and a fountain of truth
and grace to others? This " the Word that was in the begimiing with
God" was, even after he had laid aside his " form of God," and had
taken the " form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man ;" after
he " was made flesh and dwelt among us." He was even then " hfe,"
the " eternal life," and " full L^or ^H] of truth and grace." Accordingly,
he declared himself to be " the living bread that came down from hea-
ven, and the Uving vine," of which the hohest men are but branches,
and " the head of his body the Church." He complained that men
" would not come to him that they might have life," and invited, saj-ing,
*' If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink : let him that is
athirst, come ; and whosoever will, let him come, and take of the foun-
tain of the water of hfe freely." These are certainly not the words of
a mere man, or mere creature. i
9. Two things more are to be obsei-ved in this remarkable passage.
St. John tells us, verse 10, ninthly, that "he was in the world," viz. in
his pre-existent and Divine nature, appearing to the patriarchs and pro-
phets ; and that when he came in the flesh to the Jews, " he came to his
own," he having been, through all the ages of their commonwealth, (in
union with the Father,) the " God of Israel," and "King of the Jews."
Tliese particulars also I hope to make fully appear, in the farther course
of this work.
10. In the meantime, as a confirmation of the sense m which I under-
stand St. John, let me observe in the words of Bishop Pearson on the
creed,* " This [doctrine of St. John concerning the creation of all things
by the Divine Logos] was no new doctrine, but only an interpretation of
those scriptures which told us, God made all things by his Word. For
God said, ' Let there be light, and there was light.' And so, ' By the
Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by
the breath of his mo<Uh. From whence we understand that the worlds
were framed by the Word of God.' Neither was it a new interpretation ;
but that which was most familiar to the Jews, who, in their synagogues,
by the reading of the paraphrase, [or the interpretation of the Hebrew
text in the Chaldee language,] were constantly taught that ' the Word of
God' was the same with God, and by that Word all things were made ;
which undoubtedly was the cause why St. John delivered so great a
mystery in so few words, as speaking unto them who, at tlie first appre-
hension, understood hun."
11. In proof of this, the bishop produces in his notes divers passages
from the parai)hrase, in which (^n mv^u) the " Word of God" is used "for
* Fifth edition, p. 117.
OF THE CATilOLIC FAITH. 419
(nin') God himself^ and that especially with relation to the creation of the
world. " As upon Isaiah xiv, 12, where the Hebrew text says, ' I made
the earth, and created man upon it.' The Chaldee translateth it, ♦ I by
my Word made the earth,' <S:c. In the same ilianner, upon Jer. xxvii,
5, and Isa. xlviii, 13 : and Gen. i, 27, where the text is, ' God created
man,' the Jerusalem Targum has it, ' The Word of God created man.'
And Gen. iii, 8, 'ITiey heard the voice of the Lord God;' the Chaldee
paraphrase uiterprets it, ' They heard the voice of the Word of the
Lord God.' Now this which the Chaldee paraphrase calls NnoiD, the
Hellenists, [the Jews that used the Greek language,] named Xoyoj, as
appears from Philo the Jew, who wrote before St. John, and reckons in
his divinity first, ziaTSpa. ruv oXwv, the Father of all, and then, Sswrspov
©£ov, OS stfTiv £Xiivs "Koyos, the second God, who is his Word, whom he calls
opdov Qsa "koyov ■sTpwToyovov uiov, the unerring Word of God, and first begotten
iion. Nor ought we to look on Philo Judseus in this as a Platonist, but
merely as a Jew, who refers his whole doctrine of the \oyo^ to the first
chapter of Genesis. And the rest of the Jews before him, who had no
such Imowledge out of Plato's school, used the same notion. For as,
Isa. xlviii, 13, ' Tiie hand of God' is, by the Chaldee paraphrase,
translated ' Word of God ;' so in the Book of Wisdom, ■>) ^avTocJuvafz-og
ds 5(;sip xc'.i xTido.da. tov xorfffcov, xi, 17, thy almighty hand tvhich created the
world, is changed into o ifavToouvanjLoj; rfis Xoyog aff' spavw, xviii, 15, thy
almighty Word from heaven. And, Eccles. xliii, 26, sv Xoyu avrs
OvyxSiTai ■UiOM'zu., hy his Word all things are established. Nay, the Septua-
gint hath changed Shaddai, the undoubted name of the omnipotent God,
into \oyos, the Word. And, therefore, Celsus, writing in the person of
a Jew, acknowledgeth that the Word is the Son of God : Ej ys o Xoyos
sgiv viJ.iv uios Ts 0£J5, xai rijj.Sig s^r/ivsfj^sv, — If with you the Word is the Son
of God; this ice also approm of."
12. Agreeable to this extract from Bishop Pearson, Dr. Doddridge,
in liis note on John i, 2, observes, " It would be the work of a treatise,
rather than a note, to represent the Jewish doctrine of the creation of all
tilings by the Divine Xoyo?, or Wo7'd." And he presents us with the fol-
lowing remarkable passage from Philo, as a specimen of the rest. (De
Profug. p. 405.) " Speaking of the cherubim on the mercy seat as
symbolical representations of what he calls the creating and governing
powers, Philo Judtcus makes this additional refieclion, ' The Divine
Word, Xoyoj, is above these, of whom we can have no idea by the sight,
or any other sense — he being the image of God, the eldest of all intelli-
gent beings, sitting nearest to him who is truly the only one, there being
no distance between them. And, therefore, he (that is God) says, " I
will speak unto thee from the mercy seat, between the two cherubims ;"
thereby representing the Logos or Word, as the charioteer by whom the
motion of those powers is directed ; and himself who speaks to him as
the rider (or person carried) who conmKUids the charioteer how he is to
manage the reins.' " TChis, Doctor Doddridge thinks, is a key to a great
many other passages in Philo. He quotes another (from his book de
Agricult. p. 195,) where Philo represents God as " governing the whole
course of nature, both in heaven and earth, as the great shepherd and
king, by wise and righteous laws, having constituted his unerring Word,
his only begotten Son, to preside as his viceroy over his holy flock,'*
420 A RATIONAL VIISrDICATION
For the illustration of which, he (Philo) quotes Exod. xxlii, 23, though
in a form somewhat different from our reading, — " Behold, I am : I will
send my angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way." (See Dod-
dridge's Family Expositor.)
13. But not to dwell any longer on the testimony of Philo and the
Chaldee paraphrast, let it be observed that He, who is by St. John termed
the Logos or Word, and the " only begotten" of the Father, is, by St.
Paul, Col. i, 15, called "the image of the invisible God, the first born
of every creature," or as TOatf^i? x7itf;ws means, of tJie ivJioh creation, and,
by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, is said to be " the brightness
of his Father's glory," [a'tfauyarf/xa ti^j Srj^i);, the effulgence of his glory,']
and "the express image, [p(;apaxT7)p rns v-toiacfsus au7ji, the character,
exact delineation, or perfect resemblance'] of his person." By the " first
born of the whole creation," the apostle must mean either begotten
before the existence of any creature,* viz. from everlasting, as Micah
has it, or the head, the Lord, the heir of the whole creation, the first born
bemg heir and lord of all. Hence the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews says, the Father hath appointed him " heir of all things," and
St. Peter entitles him " Lord of all," Heb. i, 2 ; Acts x, 36. " The image
of the invisible God," is an expression, which must at least signify, that
he exactly resembles his Father, and is the person in and by whom the
invisible God is, as it were, made visible ; in and through whom the glory
of God is displayed, and shines forth to his creatures. According to the
words of St. John, " No one (sosis) hath seen God at any time ; the only
begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him :"
and according to the words of our Lord himself to Philip, when Philip
said, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us ;" and Jesus replied,
" Have I been so long time with 5 ou, and jet hast thou not known me,
Philip ? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father ; and how sayest
thou. Show us the Father ?" In the same sense he is imdoubtedly said
to be " the brightness [or effulgence] of his glory," and " the express
image [or exact dehneation] of his pei'son."
14. Now that he, whose person is characterized in this language, is
not a mere creature, is plain, because the apostle distinguishes him from
all creatures, even from the most exalted — from angels, and that in
four respects : First, he is a Son, and the angels are but servants.
" Being so much better than the angels," says he, verse 4, 5, " as he
hath by inheritance obtained [xexXTipovo/xi^xev, hcdh inherited] a more
excellent name than they," viz. the name of a Son. " For unto which
of the angels said he at any time. Thou art my Son : this day have I
begotten thee ?" And again, " I will be to hun a Father, and he shall
be unto me a Son." Not but that the angels may be called, and are
" sons of God," as Mr. Fletcher has observed above : but not in a proper
sense ; lor being mere creatures, they have no natural right to the
appellation : they do not inherit it, as the apostle's expression is : it is
* " The first horn of every creature, — that is (says Bishop Pearson) begotten
by God, as the Son of his love, antecedent!}' to all other emanations, before any
thing proceeded from him, or was framed and created by him. And that pre-
cedency is presently proved by this undeniable argument, — that all other ema-
nations or productions came from him, and whatsoever received ils being by crea-
tion, was created by him." (Pearson on tlie Creed, p. 127, 2d edit. ]66i2'.)
OF THE CATHOIIC FAITH. 421
not theirs by hhihright. Not so the Son ; he being the Word of the
Father, begotten of him before any creature, " the brightness of the
everlasting Light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the
image of his goodness," see Wisdom vii, 20, is properly a Son ; and,
therefore, when he takes upon him the cliaracter and ibrm of a servant,
he empties himself of his original and proper dignity, and uses great
condescension, (as the apostle informs us, Phil, ii, 7,) in so doing.
15. Again. As a second reason M'hy he is "better than the angels,"
and therefore not a mere creature, the inspired penman applying to him
a passage quoted from the 7th verse of the 97th Psalm, viz. " Worship
him all ye gods," says, " When he bringeth his first begotten into the
world," he saith, " And let all the angels of God worship him." Now
certainly he who hath forbidden idolatry to men, would not enjoin it to
angds. Surely he would not command those bright intelligences to fall
down before one like themselves, a mere creature, at an infinite distance
fi'om true and proper Deity.
16. As a THIRD reason why he is to be preferred before angels, and
thei'efore before the most exalted creatures, the apostle next reminds us
that his character is drawn in language very different from that in wlaich
theirs is described, in the Old Testament, verse 7-12 : " Of the angels
he saith. Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire :" but unto the Son he saith, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom :" and,
" Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of thine hands : they sliall perish, but
thou remainest, and tliey shall wax old, as doth a garment ; and as a
vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed ; but thou
art the same, and thy years fail not." And, fourthly, no creature,
not even the highest angel, hath been exalted to the dignity, authority,
and power, to which the Son is exalted: for (verse 13,) "Unto which
of the angels said he at any time. Sit thou on my right hand, until I
make thine enemies thy footstool ?" Their highest honour is, (verse 14,)
to be " ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be
heirs of salvation."
17. In perfect consistency with all this, he infers, lastly, in the begin-
ning of the next chapter, from this manifest superiority of the Son to
angels, that the guilt of those who reject or slight the Gospel spoken by
him, is greater than that of those who formerly transgressed the law
delivered by them. " Therefore," says lie, " we ought to give the more
earnest heed to the things \Nhich we have heard, lest at any time we
should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast,
[viz. the law dehvered by their ministry,] and every transgression and
disobedience received a just recompense of reward, — how shall we
escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those that heard
him, God also [viz. the Father] bearing them witness with signs and
wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to
his own will !"
18. It appears, therefore, beyond dispute, First, That the author of
the Epistle to the Hebrews considered the Son of God as a being
superior to angels, that is, to the most exalted creatures, as he expressly,
422 A RATIONAL VIJfDICATION
and of set purpose, distinguishes him from them all, giving us, regularly,
four explicit reasons why he is better than they. And, Secmdly, It
appears that he believed him to be possessed of a nature truly and pro-
perly Divine, because, aniong other passages quoted from the Old Testa-
ment, he produces two, and applies them to the Son, which David
undoubtedly meant of Jehovah tlie true GoA — I mean the passages
taken from the 97th and the 102d Psalms. Now whether we reflect
that the author of this epistle (most probably St. Paul) was Divinely
inspired, and therefore could not be mistaken, at least, in so important a
point as that which respected the true character of his Master, whether
he was truly God, or only a mere creature ; or whether we consider the
conclusiveness of his reasoning from the writings of the Old Testa-
ment, (which, as our Lord says, cannot be broken^ or are infallible,) —
we are certainly authorized to believe and maintain, that the Logos, the
Word, " the only begotten of the Father," who " was in the beginning
with God," and therefore, in some sense, is to be distinguished from
God, nevertheless was God, and that in the true and proper sense of the
word, even the " true God and eternal life," 1 John v, 20.
CHAPTER VI.
Tluri. the apostles, in their quolatians from the Old Testament, appl]^ to
Christ many 'passages which were most manifQptly spoken of the true
God, the God of Israel, and consider all the appearances of Jehovah
made to the patriarchs and prophets of old, to he made in his person.
1. The true character of Christ will more fully appear, if we attend
to another point, viz, that the apostles not only call him God, and that
repeatedly and absolutely, as " The Word was God, Emmanuel, God
with us, God manifest in the flesh, My Lord and my God ;" but they
apply to him, without scruple, divers passages of the Old Testament,
which were manifestly intended of the true God, the " God of Israel."
Of this we have had two remarkable instances already. "The Lord
reigneth, (says David, Psalm xcvii, 1, &,c,) let the eartl'rejoice ; let the
multitude of the isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round
about him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his tlu'one.
A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies roimd about. His
lightnings enlightened the world. The earth saw and trembled. The
hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of
the Lord- of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness,
and all the people sec his glory. Confounded be all they that serve
graven images, and boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye
gods." Now to this last clause the inspired author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews undoubtedly refers, in the passage above quoted, from chap, i,
ver- 6, when, as we have seen, applying it to the Son, he says, " Let all
the angels of God worship him." And ^\ ith what propriety he could do
this, if the Son, the AVord, w^ere not, in union with his Father, the true
God, I confess I am at a loss to say.
2. The other instance we have had is full as remarkable. " My
days," says David, are like a " siiadow that declineth ; and I am with-
OF THE OATnOLIC FAITH. 423
ei'ed like grass : but tliou, O Lord, [Heb. JeJiovah,] shall endure for
ever, and thy remembrance to all generations: thou shalt arise, and
have mercy on Zion, for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is
come. When Jehovah shall build up Zion, he shall appear m his
glory," Psalm cii, 1, <Scc. "1 said, O my God, take me not away in
the niidst of my days : thy } ears are throughout all gt;nerations. Of
old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the
work o!t thine hands : they shall perish, but thou shalt endure ; yea, all
of them shall wax old like a garment ; as a vesture shalt thou change
them, and they shall be changed : but thou ail the same, and thy years
fail not," verse 24. Now as no one can doubt that the true God is the
person spoken of by the psalmist in these words ; so no one that com-
pares herewith the above cited passage, Heb. i, 10, 11, 12, can question
whether the author of tliat epistle considered the words to be applicable
to Christ, and indeed to be intended of him.
3. Another instance of the same kind we find Eph. iv, 8-10, where
the apostle quotes and appUes to Christ a passage of the sixty-eighth
psalm, in which David manifestly celebrates the praises of the tiiie
God, the God of Israel, who had brought the people out of Eg^^-pt, led
them through the Mildemess, estal)lished them in the possession of
Canaan, and had taken up his abode first in the tabernacle, and then in
their temple. " O God," says he, " when thou wentest forth before thy
people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook,
the heavens also dropped at the presence of God : even Sinai itself was
moved at the preser.ce of God, the God of Israel," ver. 7. "The
chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : the
Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place : thou hast ascended
on high, thou hast led capliA'ity captive ; thou hast received gifts for men,
[Heb. Dnx:i in the man, that is, in the human nature,'] yea, for the rebel-
lious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them," ver. 17. Now,
as this last verse imdoubtcdly had a reference to something farther and
greater than the ascent of the ark (an emblem of the Divine presence)
to Mount Zion, even to the ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven, (as
recorded Acts fii-st,) so it is accordingly apphed to this remarkable event
in the passage ibove mentioned. And it is applied in such a manner as
to show that ihe apostle considered it as chiefly mtended of Christ.
" Unto every one of us," says he, " is given grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ : wherefore he [David, or the Holy Spirit
by David] saith. When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts mito men. Now, he that ascended, what is it? [what
does it imply ?] but that he descended first into the lowest parts of the
earth ? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above
all heavens, that he might fill all things, and he gave some apostles," &c.
And is it a mere man, or a mere creature, of whom the apostle speaks
in this passage : to whom he 'applies the. words of David, thus mani-
festly spoken of the God of Israel, and of whom he says that he first
descended before he afterward " ascended up far above all heavens, and
that he fills aU things ?"
Nor is this the only passage in which it appears that St. Paul con-
sidered Him who brought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the law on
Sinai:, led them through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day, and
424 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
fire by night, and dwelt in tlieir tabernacle and temple, to be Christ in
his pre-existent and Divine nature. There are sundiy other passages
of 'his writings which manitest the same. For instance : "They drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were
destroyed of serpents," 1 Cor. x, 4 and 9. " See that ye refuse not hiin
that speaketh : for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on
earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that
speaketh from heaven : whose voice then shook the earth, but now he
hath promised, saying. Yet once more I shake not the earth oidy, but
heaven also," Heb. xii, 25, 26. " They stumbled at that stumbling
stone : as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock
of offence ; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed,"
Rom. ix, 32, 33. The apostle not only refers in these words to Isaiah
xxviii, 16, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone,
a precious stone ; a sure foundation : he that believeth shall not- make
haste ;" — but he also and especially refers to Isaiah viii, 14 : "Sanctify
Jehovah of hosts, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread :
and he shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a .
rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel :" words to which St. Peter '
also refei's, — " To you who believe, he is precious ; but imto them which
be disobedient, a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, to those that -
stumble, disobeying the word, unto which also they are disposed," 1 Pet.*'
ii, 7, 8. And, to the same passage old Simeon alludes, " Behold, this''
child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign '
that shall be spoken against," Luke ii, 34. In all which passages,
Isaiah's words concerning Jehovah are plainly applied to Christ, and '''•
represented as fulfilled in him. Compare also Rom. x, 13 and 14, with
Joel ii, 32, and Rom. xiv, 11, with Isaiali xlv, 23.
5. In this last mentioned passage, the only hving and true God, the
God of Israel, is undoubtedly the person who speaks : " I am Jehovah,"
says he, " and there is none else : there is no God beside me. That
they may know from the rising of tJie sun, and from the west, that there
is none beside me : I am Jehovah, and there is none else. They shall
go into confusion together, that are makers of idols : but Israel shall be
saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation : ye shall not be
ashamed nor confounded, world without end. For thus said the Lord
that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and niade
it, I am the Lord, and there is none else. Look unto me, aiid be saved,
all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else. I have
sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every
tongue shall swear. vSurely, shall one say. In the Lord have I right-
eousness and strength : even to him shall men come, and all that are
incensed against him shall be ashamed : in the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and shall glory."
6. Now as it is the Lord Christ, the " Word made flesh," that is in a
special and peculiar sense, "the Saviour," the person to whom we must
*'look and be saved ;" as it is in him especially, that " we have right-
eousness and strength," and in him that all the true Israel of God " are
justified, and glory ;" so we find the apostle, in the passage above
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 425
named, viz. Rom. xiv, 11, applying these words, so manifestly spoken
by the true God, to Christ. " We shall all stand (says he) before the
judgment seat of Christ : for it is written, As I hve, saith the Lord, every
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God : so then
every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." How plain
is it, from hence, that the apostle considered the God of Israel the "only
living and true God," as dwelhng by liis eternal Word in the humaa
nature of Christ, and so intunately united therewith, that he who bowed
to the visible man, bowed to the invisible God ; and he who gave an
account to the man, gave an account to God dwelling in him, and
judging mankind by him. For otherwise, that is, on the supposition of
Christ's being a mere man, or a mere creature, how could the words of
Jehovah, " Every knee shall bow to me," be a proof that we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ 1 And if Christ were not God,
how could our giving an account to him, be properly termed by the
apostle " giving an account to God V
7. Nor was the conduct of St. Paul, in applying passages of the Old
Testament, manifestly meant of the true God, to Christ, any way
peculiar. We find other apostles doing the same, St. John in particular.
In the twelfth chapter of his Gospel, he applies to the Lord Jesus that
remarkable and well-knowTi description of the appearance of Jehovah to
Isaiah, recorded in the sixtli chapter of his prophecy. "In the year
Jnat Uzziah died," says the prophet, " I saw also the Lord silting upon
a throne, liigh and hfted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it
3tood the seraphim : and one cried unto another and said. Holy, holy,
holy, is Jehovah of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then
jaid I, Wo is me, for I am imdone : because I am a man of unclean
lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. Also I heai-d the voice of the
Lord, saying. Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us ? [Heb. u^ in
the plural for lis.'] Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said,
Go, and tell this people. Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye
indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes : lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
convert and be healed." Now, John xii, 37, we read, " Though he
had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on liim :
that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,
He hath blinded their eyes and hardened tlieir hearts : that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be con-
verted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he
saw his glory, and spake of him." In St. John's opinion, therefore, it
was the gloiy of Christ which Isaiah saw, and of him that he spake in
the above-mentioned passage.
8. In like maimer, what is manifestly spoken of the true God in the
fortieth of Isaiah, is, by all the evangelists, applied to Christ : " Prepare
ye the way of the Lord," says " the voice of him that crieth in tlie wil-
derness," " make straight in the desert a high way for our God. Every
valley shall be exalted, &c. And the glorj- of Jehovah shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall sec it together : for the mouth of Jehovah hath
spoken it." Now, if the reader will be at the pains of examining Matt.
426 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
iii, 3 ; Mark i, 3 ; Luke i, 76, and iii, 4, and John i, 23, he will find
all these evangelists understanding this voice cr>ing in the wilderness,
to be John the Baptist, and the God whose way he prepared, to be the
Lord Christ : in whom " dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily," and
through whose humanity the Deity so shone forth, that he could truly
say, " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." Hence the words
of God by Zechariah, chap, xi, 13, "Jehovah said unto me. Cast it unto
the potter : a goodly price that I was prized at of them :" and chap, xii, 13,
" They shall look upon me whom they have pierced," are, it is well
known, understood by St. Matthew and St. John, as spoken of Christ,
and are applied to him accordingly.
9. We have seen, then, that the apostles made no difficult}' of apply-
ing to Christ those passages of the Old Testament which contain the
most essential characters of the supreme God. " Now (as a French
writer justly asks) how could they have dared to do this if Christ were
not the true and supreme God ? Had they been instructed only in the
school of nature, they might have learned not to apply to any creature
those things a\ hich had been spoken of the Creator alone, exclusive of
all creatures. If, then, we regard them as brought up in the school of
the prophets, we can never suspect them of such madness. For can
any thing equal the circumspection of the prophets in tliis particular?
They are continually apprehensive of confounding the Creator with any
creature. And this apprehension sufficiently guards them from applying
to the one the most essential characters of the other."
10. To illustrate this let it be observed, " The descriptions which the
apostles make of Christ are not more sacred than those which the pro-
phets make of the supreme God. As, then, one would not dare to apply
to any other tliosc descriptions of Jesus Christ, neither would one dare
(were he not such) to apply to Jesus Christ these descriptions of the
supreme God. Should we not accuse him of imj)iety, who treated a
man, suppose St. Peter, as the "only begotten Son of God, the Lamb of
God, our Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec, the Father of
eternity, the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us : the Word that
was in the beginning with God, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last ?" Could we suffer man to say of Peter, that he had " bought the
Church with his own blood ?" Had " made atonement for our sms, and
borne them in his own body on the tree ?" That Peter " dwells in our
hearts by faith," and that " there is no other name under heaven whereby
we can be saved, neither is there salvation in any other ?" That " he is
rnade of God unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and re-
demption ?" Would you not regard him who spoke thus of St. Peter as
a most imj)ious blasphemer ? Although he had told you withal, that St.
Peter was less than Christ, this would not satisfy you. You \\ ould have
reason to say that this very acknowledgment left him without excuse ;
seeing hereby he flatly contradicted hunself, and made his impiety more
glaring. It would not excuse him to say that he ajjplied these charac-
ters to St. Peter only by way of allusion, or accommodation. You might
justly answer. If it be an allusion, it is an impious allusion ; if it be an
accommodation, it is a profane accoinmodation : be it an application of
whatever kind it will, it is an application full of blasphemy.
11. But if you regard as blasphemous an application of the cliief
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 427
characters of Jesus Christ to so great an apostle as St. Peter, it must be
a still greater blasphemy to apply to Christ (if he be not the Most High)
the chief characters of the supreme God. For, not to urge that Peter
was a teacher sent of God, an inspired prophet, and, according to the
Socinians, Christ was no more ; allowing that Christ was a greater pro-
phet than St. Peter, and thai " there was a gi-eat disproportion between
him and his apostle ; yet if our adversaries be right, there is a far
greater disproportion between Christ and the supreme God ; seeing the
former, however great, is finite, whereas the latter is infinite. If, then,
one camiot, without great blasphemy, apply to St. Peter the most essen-
tial characters of Christ, one cannot, without infinitely greater blasphem}^,
apply to Christ the essential characters of God."
12. " This will appear still more evident, if we suppose farther, that
he who made tliese applications to St. Peter, knew that it was already
a point in debate, whether St. Peter were not equal to Christ : and fore-
saw that this error would generally prevail, and that men, for several
ages, would confound St. Peter with Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Re-
deemer of mankind. Such a man, in this case, would be guilty of
astonishing impiety, to dare to make such an application of the charac-
ters of Jesus Christ, as he knew would be attended with so dangerous,
so fatal a consequence. There is nothing easier than to apply this to
the apostles. They could not be ignorant that the question, whether
Jesus Christ was equal with God, had been already started ; yea, and
that the Jews had persecuted him under colour of this prefended blas-
phemy. They who foresaw that, in the last times, false teachers would
arise, and who characterized their doctrine, were not ignorant that
Christians would fall into this error of confounding Christ with the most
high God, How, then, could they who knew both these things, without
manifest impiety, apply to Christ those ancient oracles which express
the glory of the Most High, those in particular which express the glory
of God, exclusively of all his creatures ?".
13. From all this it is plain beyond a doubt, that the inspired writers
of the New Testament consid(ircd the King of Israel and God of the
Jews, who had anciently dwelt in their tabernacle and temple, and mani-
fested his presence in Divine glory in the holy of holies, as being incar-
nated in the flesh of the holy Jesus. Hence St. John, speaking of his
incarnation, uses the word erfxyivwCsv, he tabernacled — "The Word was
made flesh and tabernacled among us," alluding most manifestly to his
having dwelt of old in their tabernacle and temple. And hence God
promises, " Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the
way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his
temple," Mai. iii, 1. Observe, " His temple,^' — lor it had been his in
all the ages of their government — only before tlie time of the Babylonish
captivity he forsook it ; and the glorious tokens of his presence were
seen no more, till Jie was manifested in the flesh of Christ Jesus : then
he appeared again in his temj)Ie, and by speaking " as never man spake,"
and performing miracles such as no man had ever performed, he gave
that latter house, built after their return from Babylon, a glo)y such as
even Solomon's temple had never known. But inasmuch as that was to
be only for a very short time, and inasmuch as the human nature of
Christ was to be the true and everlasting dwelluig place of the Deity,
428 A RATIONAL VINDICATIOX
where he would be found by penitent, beheving souls, and from whence
he would give forth oracles and communicate blessings ; therefore the
Lord Jesus calls his body a temple, and says, " Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will build it up." For the evangelist assures us he spake
of the "Jemple of his body," John ii, 21.
14. Well might St. John say, therefore, in the passage quoted above,
" He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world
knew him not." He came to his owti, and his own received him not.
For, if the apostles had a right view of him, and understood his true
character, he was the immediate Creator of the world, and the person
who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and styled himself " the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," who led the people of Israel out of
Egypt, and gave them the law trom Mount Sinai ; who took up his abode
on that mount, where his appearance was like that of devouring fire, till
the tabernacle was prepared for his reception, when he condescended to
remove his presence thither, and fill the most holy place, yea, and the
whole tabernacle, with such glory that Moses (though accustomed to the
Divine presence, having been twice forty days with the Lord on the
mount) was not able to enter even into the tent of the congregation,
Exod. xl, 34, 3.5. He it was who dwelt first at Shiloh, and then at
Jerusalem, and from between the cheixibim upon the mercy seat gave
answers to the high priest, being the King as well as God of Israel. He
it was who manifested his glory to Isaiah and the other prophets ; and
havmg been their tnie King in all ages, and having been " in the world"
from the beginning, appearing in various forms, and superintending his
ancient Church from the calling of Abraham to the Babylonish captivity,
— he it was, I sa)^, who, when he came in the flesh, " came to his own,"
but because he came without the ensign of his fomier glory, having put
off the Divine " Shekinah," the form of God, in which he had been wont
to appear, " his own received him not :" nay, they rejected him, they
crucitled him ; but not without his title providentially put over his head :
" Tiiis is Jesus of Nazareth, the Khig of the Jews," a title wliich had
been previously acknowledged by Nathanael : " Rabbi, thou art the Son
of God : thou art the King of Israel." Tliis the Jews did, not luiowing
who he was ; for had they known it, doubtless " they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory."
15. As a fai-ther confirmation of this doctrine, I would observe, First,
That it is the constant testimony of the apostles that the Father in his
own proper person, by wliich we are to understand, perhaps, the simple
Divine essence, never was seen by man. " No man hath seen God at
any time," John i, 18, and 1 John iv, 12. " The King eternal, immortal,
invisible," 1 Tim. i, 17. " Who only hath immortality, dwelling in
light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, or
can see," 1 Tim. vi, 16. These declarations of his apostles are con-
firmed by our Lord : " Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he
who is of God, he hath seen the Father." And yet it is manifest from
divers passages of the Old Testament quoted already, and from a great
many more that might be quoted, that a person did appear, at sundry
times, to the patriarchs and prophets of old, who styled himself the
*'God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the true God."
16. One very remarkable appearance of his has t'oon already noticed,
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 429
as recorded in the sixth of Isaiah : " Mine eyes (says the prophet) have
seen the King, Jehovah of hosts." Another is related, "Then went up
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ;
and, they saw the God of Israel ; and there was under his feet, as it were,
a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in
his clearness. And upon the nol)les of the children of Israel he laid not
his hand; also they saw God, and did eat and drink," Exod. xxiv, 9-12.
Now as certainly as St. John, St. Paul, and our Lord himself, (who all
affirm that no one hath seen the Father,) were not mistaken, so cei'tainly
this person whom Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders
of Israel saw, and whom Isaiah saw, was not the Father in his own
proper person. Who then could it be save the Word, the image of the
invisible God, the "brightness of his gloiy, and express image of his
person?" And that it was he is certain, from St. John's declaration,
chap, xii, 41, above cited.
17. Let it be observed. Secondly, That in most of the appearances of
God recorded in the Old Testament, though the person appearing
speaks as God, the true God, yet he is called an angel, or messenger, of
God, and often appears as a man. Thus Exod. iii, 2, " The angel of
the Lord appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst
of the bush. And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God
called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, I am the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob : and Moses hid his
face, for he was ashamed to look upon God. And Jehovah said, I have
seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt : and I am come down
to deliver them," ver. 14. " And God said unto Moses, I am that I am."
Now this same person, who here styles himself the " God of Abraham,"
appeared to that father of the faithful as a man, and conversed familiarly
with him. See Gen. xviii. And yet the historian assures us, ver. 1,
that it was Jehovah that appeared unto him ; and in the course of the
narration he is frequently styled Jehovah: as ver. 13, "Jehovah said
unto Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh — is any thing too hard for Jeho-
vah ? At the time a)>pointed I will return unto thee : and Sarah shall
have a son. And .lehovah said, ver. 17, Shall I hide from Abraham
the thing that I do ? They then [two of the three] turned their faces
from thence, and went toward Sodom : but Abraham stood yet before
Jehovah," ver. 22. From hence to the end of the chapter follows a long
conversation . between this person (Jehovah under the form of a man,)
and Abraham ; in which he is repeatedly styled Jehovah by the his-
torian, and is acknowledged by Abraham, ver. 25, as " Judge of all the
earth."
18. After this, the same person appeared to Jacob at Bethel : " Jacob
dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top reached to
heaven ; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it ;
and Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, (he God of Abra-
ham thy father, and the God of Isaac," &c. Gen. xxviii, 12. And yet,
chapter xxxi, verse 11, we find tliis person, who is here styled Jeho-
vah, called an "angel of God." "The angel of. God (says Jacob to
Rachel and Leah) spake unto me, saying, I am the God of Bethel where
thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a \o\v unto me."
19. Concerning another remarkable appearance of this saniu person.
430 A RATIONAL VI>'DICATION
we are informed, Gen. xxxii, 24, "Jacob was left alone, and there
wrestled a man with him imtil the breaking of the day : and he said,
Let me go, for the day breaketh : and he said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me : and he said, Thy name shall no more be called
Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and men,
and hast prevailed ; and Jacob asked him, and said. Tell me, I pray
thee, thy name ? And he said. Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after
my name ? And he blessed him, and Jacob called the name of the
place Peniel, that is, the face of God : for I have seen God (said he)
face to face, and my life is preserved." Hosea manifestly alludes to
this, chap, xii, 3, of his [)rophecy : " He took his brother by the heel in
the womb, and by his strength he had power with God : yea, he had
power over the angel, and prevailed : he wept, and made supplication
unto him : he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us : even
Jehovah God of hosts, Jehovah is his memorial."
30. I shall only mention two more appearances of this person.
" When Joshua was by Jericho, he Uft up his eyes, and behold, there
stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his hand ; and
Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our
adversaries ? And he said, Nay : but as captain of the host of the
Lord, am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and
did worship, and said unto him, What said my Lord unto his servant?
And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from
off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua
did so," Josh, v, 13. The other passage is Judges vi, 11 : " And there
came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak that was in Oplu"ah,
and said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
And Gideon said unto him, O ! my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why
then has this befallen us ? And Jehovah looked upon him and said. Go
in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the
Midianites : have not I sent thee ? And he said, O ! my Lord, \\ here-
with shall I save Israel ? And Jehovah said unto him, Surely 1 will be
with thee, and thou shalt sjnite the Midianites as one man."
21. Now as in these and many more appearances of God, the same
person is both styled Jehovah and cui angel of Jehovah, (or as mn> ^«'7D
is, with equal propriety, rendered the angel, messenger, or envoy JeJiovah,)
surely it was not the Father, in his own proper person, not only be-
cause, as the apostles testify, " No man hath seen him, or can see him,"
but because, if ever he had appeared, surely it would not have been in
the character of a messenger or envoy. For by wliom should he be
sent? Whose messenger or envoy should he be? And there is no
trace, in any part of the Bible, of his ever sustainuig any such charac-
ter as that of angel, messenger, or envoy. But the Son, the Word of
the Father, as he may properly be sent by his Father on errands worthy
of redeeming power and love, so it is certain he has often sustained this
character. Malachi calls him the "angel [or messenger] of the cove-
nant ;" and yet, to prevent our thinking him a created angel, styles lum,
in the same place, " The Lord that should conie to liis temple," Mai.
iii, 1. Isaiah terms him the angel of the Divine presence. " The emgel
of his presence saved them," chapter Ixiii, 9. And doubtless of him is
to be ujiderstood, " I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way,
OF THE CATHOLIC rAITH. 431
and to bring thee iinto the place which I have prepared ; beware of
him, and obey his voice ; pi'ovoke him not, for he will not pardon your
transgressions, for my name [that is my nature] is in him," Exod. xxiii,
20, &c. And what is still more remarkable, Jacob terms liim " the
angel tliat had redeemed him from all evil ;" and yot to show that he
did not mean any created angel, he prays him to "bless the lads," and
styles him " the God before whom Abraham and Isaac did walk, the
God that had fed him all his life long unto that day," Gen. xlviii, 15, 16.
CHAPTER VII.
Tliat the inspired icriters give him those names and titles, and ascribe to him
those perfections which the true God claims as pecidiarly his own, and
whereby he is distinguished from all other beings in the wwld.
1. It can hardly have escaped the observation of the attentive and
learned reader, that in abnost all the passages quoted from the Old
Testament in the last chapter, and shown to be applied by the New
Testament writers to Christ — the true God, the God of Israel, is spoken
of under the name of Jehovah. According to the apostles and evange-
lists, therefore, the Lord Jesus is repeatedly termed, and is, Jehovah; a
name which Jeremiah foretold should be given him, as we learn from
the twenty-third chapter of his prophecy, " Tiiis is the name whereby he
shall be called. Job jvah our righteousness."
2. Indeed (he appellation Lord, mpiog, so continually given to Christ
in the New Testament, is the word whereby the name Jehovah is con-
stantly translated in tiie old. Bishop Pearson reasons very conclusively
upon this subject : " It is most certain that Christ is called Lord, xupio?,
in another notion than that which signifies any kind of human dominion,
because, as so, there are many lords ; but he is in that notion Lord, which
admits of no more than one. They are only ' nmsters according to the
flesh.^ He the ' Lord of glory, the Lord from lieaven, King of kings,
and Lord of all other lords.'
3. "Nor is it diflicult to find that name [zvpiog. Lord,"] among the
books of the law, in the most high and fiill signification ; for it is most
frequently used in the name of the supreme God, sometimes for El or
Elohim, — sometimes for Shaddai, or the Rock, — and often for Adonai, —
and most universally ior Jehovah, the undoubted proper name of God,
and that to which the Greek translators, long before our Saviour's birth,
had most appropriated the name of Lord, xupio^:, not only by way of
ex[)lication, but distinction and particular expression. As when we read,
' Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high in all the earth,'
and when God sa) s, ' 1 appeared luito Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto
Jacob, by the name of God Almighty ; but by my name Jehovah was I
not known unto them.' In both these places for the name Jehovah, the
Greek translation, which tlie apostles followed, hath no other name but
xupiog, Lord, and tlierefore undoubtedly by that word did they understand
the proper name of God, Jehovah ; and had tliey placed it there Jis the
exposition of any other name of God, they had made an interpretation
contrary to the inanilcal intention of the Spirit ; for it camiot be denied
432 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
but God was known to Abraham by the true import of the title Adonai
as much as by the name of Shaddai ; as much by his dominion and
sovereignty, as by his power and all sufficiency : but by an experimen-
tal and personal sense of fiilfilling his promises, his name Jehovah was
not known unto him : for though God spoke expressly unto Abraham,
* All the land thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever ;'
yet the history teacheth us, and Stephen confirmeth us, ' that he gave
him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on, though
he promised that he would give it to him for a possession.' Wherefore,
when God saith that he was not known to Abraham by his name JeJio-
rah, the interpretation of no other name can make good that expression.
And, therefore, we have reason to believe the word which the first Greek
translators, and, after them, the apostles used, [xupiog, Lord,'] may be
appropriated to that notion wliich the original requires, [viz. the word
Jeliovah,'] as indeed it may, being derived from a verb of the same sig-
nification with the Hebrew root,* and so denoting the essence or existence
of God, and whatsoever else may be deduced from thence, as revealed
by him to be signified thereby.
4. " Seeing, then, this title Lord signifieth the proper name of God,
Jehovah ; seeing the same is certainly attributed unto Christ, in a notion
far surpassing all other lords, who are rather to be looked upon as serv-
ants unto him, it will be worth our inquiry next, whether, as it is the
translation of the name Jehovah, it belongs to Christ ; or whether, though
he be Lord of all lords, as subjected under his authority, yet he be so
inferior unto him, whose name alone is Jehovah, as that in that propriety
and eminency in which it belongs unto the supreme God, it may not be
atti'ibuted unto Christ.
5. " This doubt will easily be satisfied, if we can show the name of
JeJtovah itself to be given to our Saviour ; it being against all reason to
acknowledge the original name, and deny the interpretation in the sense
and full importance of that original. Wherefore, if Christ be the Jeho-
vah, as so called by the Spirit of God, then is he so the Lord iii the
same propriety and eminency in which Jehovah is. Now whatsoever
did belong to the Messias, that may and must be attributed unto Jesus,
as being the true and only Christ. But the Jews themselves acknow-
ledge that Jehovah shall be known clearly in the days of the Messiah,
and not only so, but that it is the name which properly belongs to him.f
And if they cannot but confess so much who only read the prophecies
as the Eunuch did without an interpreter, — how can we be ignorant of
so plain and necessary a truth, whose eyes have seen the full comple-
tion, and read the infallible interpretation of them ? If they could see
* Jelwvah the Lord of hosts' to be the name of the Messiah, who was to
them for a ' stone ol' stumbling, and a rock of offence,' — how can we
possibly be ignorant of it, who are taught by St. Paul, that m Christ this
* " It is acknowledged by all that mn^ is from hm or nin, and God's own inter-
pretation proves no less, n'ns "yva n"'nN', Exod. iii, 14. And tliough some con.
tend, that t'uturition is essential to the name, yet all agree the root signifieth
nothing but ' essence or e.xistence,' tliat is to eivai or vTTaQ)(tiv. Now as from
rvr\, in the Hebrew, nirr so in tlie Greek, a-no ru Kvpeiv, Kvpioi : and what the pro-
per signification of (ctjptiv is, no man can teach us better than Hesychius, in whom
we read Kvpct, vnapx^h rvyxavti. Hence was Kvpoi by the Attics used for tj-w, *sit.'"
t As Misdrach, Tillim, on Fsalm xxi, and Echa Rabati, Lam. i, 6.
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 438
prophecy was fulfilled, * As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling
stone and rock of offence ; and whosoever beUeveth on liim shall not
be ashamed.'
6. " It ^\as no other than Jehovah who spake these words, ' I will
have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah
their God, [or as the Chaldee paraphrase has it, ^n nidicj by the word
of Jehovah'] and will not save them by bow nor sword.' Where not only
he who is described as the original and principal cause, — that is, the
Father who gave his Son, but also he who is the immediate, efficient
cause of our salvation, and that in opposition to all other means and
instrumental causes, is called Jehovah, who can be no other than our
Jesus, because there ' is no other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved.' As in another place, Zech. x, 12, he
speaketh, ' I will strengthen them in the Loi'd [Jehovah] and they shall
walk up and do^vn in his name, saith the Lord, [Jehovah,'] where he
that strengtheneth is one, and he by whom he strengtheneth is another,
clearly distinguished fi-om him by the personal pronoun, and yet each
of them is Jehovah, and ' Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.' Whatso-
ever objections may be framed against us, we know Christ is the ' right-
eous branch raised unto David : the King that shall reign and prosper,
in whose days Jndah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely :' we
are assured that ' this is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah
our righteousness ;' Jehovah, the expression of his supremacy, and our
rightemtsness, can be no diminution to his Majesty. If those words in
the prophet, ' Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and
dwell in the midst of thee,' saith Jehovah, did not sufficiently of them-
selves denote our Saviour who dwelt among us, (as they certainly do,)
yet the words which follow would evince as much : ' And many nations
shall be joined to the Lord in that day : and shall be my people, and I
will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of
hosts hath sent me unto thee,' Zech. ii, 10, 11. For what other Lord
can we conceive dwelling in the midst of us, and sent unto us by the
Lord of hosts, but Christ?"* (Pearson on tlie Creed, pp. 145-148.)
7. Now the name Jehovah is so sacred, that the Supreme Being claims
It as pecuharly his own : as for instance, — " I am Jehovah, and there is
none else, — ^there is no God beside me," Isaiah xlv, 5. And, " I am
Jehovah, that is my name, my glon.^ will I not give to another, neither
mv praise to graven images," xlii, 8. It follows, therefore, that Christ
is the Supreme Being, or that God is so united with man in liis person,
that the names of the Supreme Being, even the incommunicable neuna
Jehovah, may be properly given to him.
8. As to the name of God : it is not denied that this is frequently given
him in Scripture, but it is contended that it is improperly given, and only
meant to be taken in a subordinate and metaphorical sense : in other
words, that he is only God by office, Eind not God by nature. And much
* A3 a farther and demonstrative proof of Christ being called Jehovah, compare
Psalm xcvii, 1, 3, 7, with Heb. i, 6 ; Psabn cii, 1, 12, 18, 19. 25, with Heb. i, 10 ;
Psalm Ixviii, 17, 18, with Eph. iv, 8 ; Isaiah xlv, 23, 24, 25, with Rom. xiv, 11;
and especially Isaiah vi, 1, 3^ 5, with John xii, 41 ; Isaiah xl, 3-5, and Mai. iii,
1, with Matt. iii. 3; and Zech. xi, 13, and xii, 10, with Matt, .xxvii, 9, 10, ami
John xix, 34, 37
Vol. III. 28
434 A RATIONAL VIMJICATION
Stress has been kud upon the Greek article in this controversy: and
because in John i, 1, the original is &sos and not o ^£o?, it has been urged
that it ought to be rendered, " the Word v.ns a God," viz. a subordinate,
inferior God, a God by office, a magislrale. But (as Dr. Doddridge justly
obsen'es, and as has been intimated above) " it is inii>ossible Christ
should be here called God, merely as a governor, because he is spoken
of as existing before the production of any creatures whom he could
govern. And there are so many instances in the writings of this apostle,
and even in this chapter, see verse 6, 12, 13, 18, where dsos without
the article is used to signify God in the highest sense of the word, that it
is something surprising such a stress should be laid on the want of an
article, as a proof that it is used only in a subordinate sense." Add lo
this, in Matt, i, 23, the article is found o /xsS' yj/jlwv o Sisoj, " God with us;"
as also, John xx, 20, o w^ios /j.s, o ^s% jxs, — " My Lord, and my God,"
or rather, " The Lord of me, ilie God of me."
9. The pious and judicious author last mentioned, justly remarks on
these last words, " The irrefragable argument arising from these words
of I'homas, in proof of the Deity of our blessed Lord, cannot be evaded
by saying that they are only an exclamation of surprise, as if Thomai?
had said, " Good God, is it indeed thus V For it is expressly declared,
he spoke these words to him. And no doubt Christ would severely have
reproved him, if there had not been just reason to address him thus."
This is set in a clear light by Dr. Abbadie, from whom the following
paragraph is extracted : — " It is a surprising thing (if Christ were but a
mere man') that he should permit Thomas to say to him, — " My Lord,
and my God," without saying a word to him about the impiety and
blasphemy of treating the creature as if he were the Creator. Thomas
befoi'e was an unbehever : now he is an idolater. Till that instant he
would not believe that Jesus was risen, — he considered him as a man
lying under the power of death ; but now, on a sudden, he addresses
him as God, — he bows and adores. Of the two extremes, the latter is
most commendable; for unbelief is not so criminal as idolatry: that
dishonouring Jesus Christ, this usurping the throne of God. Better for
Thomas, therefore, to have perished in his unbelief, than by renouncing
it to fall into idolatiy. And yel, — strange mdecd ! strange to astonish-
ment ! w'ho can account ibr it ? — ^Josus upbraids him only with the
former, not at all with the loiter.* Beside, as our Lord could not but
kj\o\v what an impression these words of his amazed and adoring apostle
wo\ild make on the minds of men ; as he knew that the Jews, deceived
by expressions less exceptionable than these, had accused him of bias-
phemy : and as he knew that these very expressions would give occasion
to Christians, in succeedmg ages, to treat him as the true God ; it is
evident that he ought, for the good of mankind, to have strictly pro-
hibited all expressions which tended to make such a dangerous impres-
sion : and yet he not only pennits his lUsciples to speak after this
manner, but directs them to record the expressions for the perusal of all
future generations ; and that w ithout giving the least hint that the terms
* Nay, tiio Lord Jesus is so far from upliraiding Thomas willi idolatry on
arcount of this expression, that he even commends him Cor it; for "Jesus said
to liini, Thomas, because tliou tiast seen me, tliou hast believed. Blessed are they
who liave not been, and yet have believed."
or TUE CATHOLIC FAITH. 435
are used in a new and uncommon sense, though they appear so impious
and blasphemous."
10. Let me observe farther, that, 1 .John v, 20, he is styled the
true God. "• We know tliat the Son of God is come, and hath given us
an understanding to know him that is true, in or through his Son Jesus
Christ : Outoj sH o a>.»]^ivo<r Siog xai ^wv) aiwvioj : he, or this person, is the
true God and eternal life." St. John adds, " Little children, keep your-
selves from idols." A most necessary caution. But how did the apostles
and primitive Christians keep themselves from idols, when they wor-
shipped Jesus Christ, (as Thomas did in the instance just mentioned,
and us I shall show, by and by, that they in general did,) if Jesus Christ
be not truly God? ^\'hat is idolatry, if it be not idolatry to worship one
that is not the true God ? But that he is the person meant here is plain,
not only from the relative pronoun ou7o.c, he, or this person, which the
rules of construction require us to understand of the person last named,
who is not the Father, but liis Son Jesus Christ ; but also from being
termed the eternal life, which is an appellation before given, once and
again, by St. John to the Lord Jesus, — and never, that I remember, to
the Father. " The life was manifested, and wc have seen it, and show
mito you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested
unto us. He that hath the Son hath hfe. These things have I written
unto YOU, that ye may know that vc have eternal life," 1 John i, 2, and
V, 12; 13.
11. Hence, too, he is termed the "mighty God," Isaiah ix, 6; and
" the great God," Titus ii, 13 ; and " God blessed for ever," Rom. ix, 5.
His name shall be called " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God,
njj Vn : looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing ts
fjLsyaXs ocs xc.t (fuTYipcs '/jjawv l^tfs X^ijs, [literally of our great God and
Saviour Jesus Christ, or,] ot the great God, even our Saviour Jesus
Christ : of whom, as concernmg the flesh, C'hrist came, who is over all,
God blessed for ever." Now all these ephhets are peculiar to proper
and absolute Deity, as appears from the following passages : — " Jehovah
oiu' God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, and mighty
and terrible," Deut. x, 17. " The great, the mighty God, Jehovah of
husls is his name," Jer. xxxii, 18. And " who worshipped and served
the creature more thcui the Creator, who is blessed for evei-," Rom. i,
25. These epithets, therefore, being added to the name of God, fix the
sense, and show, to a demonstration, that real, proper, and supreme
divinity is inleiided.
12. Tins will appear still more manifestly, if wc consider, secondly, that
Divine titles are also gi\ en to him. As it has been proved, that he was
the person who appeared to Moses at the bush, and to Jacob at Bethel
and Peniel, so it is manifest he rejjeatedly styles himself, " the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And in Hosea xii, and Isaiah vi and viii,
we have seen lum entitled Jehovah, God of hosts." In like manner,
1 Cor. ii, 1, and James ii, 1, he is styled "Lord of gloiy;" a title of
the same import with that of " King of glory ;" an appellation whereby
the true God is distinguished. Psa. xxiv, 7, 8, " Lift up yoin- heads, O
ye gates ! and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of
glory ? Jehovah, strong and mighty ; Jehovah, mighty in battle. Who
is the King of glory? Jehovah of hosts. lie is the King of glory."
436 A EATIONAL VINDICATION
13. " King of kings, and Lord of lords," is another of those titles
which are appropriated to the supreme God in the Holy Scripture.
" Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, says Moses, Deut. x, 16, 17,
and be no more stiff necked, for the Lord your God is God of gods, and
Lord of lords." And St. Paul, describing the only true God, calls him
" the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,
who only hath immortality, dwelling in Ught, which no man can approach
unto," 1 Tim. vi, 15, 16. And yet this title is repeatedly given to the
Lord Jesus, as Rev. xvii, 14, " The Lamb shall overcome them, for he
is King of kings, and Lord of lords :" and again, " He hath on his
vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, Kmg of kings, and Lord of
lords," chap, xix, 16.
14. In like manner. The first and the last is a title pecuharly claimed
by the one living and true God, as appears from Isaiah xli, 4, "Who
hath wrought and done it, calUng the generations from the begiiming ?
I, Jehovah, the first and with the last, I am he." And again, "Thus
saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts, I
am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no other God,"
Isaiah xliv, 6. And j^et this title also is assimied by the Lord Jesus :
" I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great
voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last, and what thou seest, write. And I turned to see the voice that
spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and
in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breast with a
golden girdle. His head and his hair were wliite like wool, as white
as snow ; and his eyes were as a flame of fire : and his feet like vmto
fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; emd his voice as the sound
of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars : and out
of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword : and his countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw liim, I fell at his
feet as dead ; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying uiito me. Fear
not, I am the first and the last : I am he that liveth and was dead, and
behold I am alive for e\ ermore, Amen ! and have the keys of hades and
of death," Rev. i, 2-18.
15. I have quoted this passage at large, that we may have the better
view of him whom Dr. Priestley, with Photinus of old, thinks a mere
vian, (4^iXov Kv^pwTrov,) a weak, falhble, and peccable creature. But who
can read this description of his wonderful person, given by an eye wit-
ness of his glory, and yet, after all, be of the doctor's mind ? Who can
behold, though but by faith, that face which displays the glorj- of God
with a brightness like that of the sun shining in his strength, and yet
doubt whether the Godhead inhabits the manhood ? Especially who
can hear these most august titles, pecuhar to the Eternal, to him that
had " no beginning of days," and will have " no end of lite," so repeat-
edly claimed, and yet hesitate to pronounce, that the person thus claim-
ing them, if he do it justly, (and surely " the Amen, the faithful and true
Witness," would not advance a false claim,) must, in union with his
Father, be the one living and true God, possessing, in his complex
person, a nature properly Divine ?
16. Add to this, that it is supposed by many, that the words contained
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 437
in the 8th \'erse, also, " I am Alpha and Omega, the "beginnrng and the
ending, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the
Almighty," were spoken by the Lord Jesus. And the context seems to
make this probable. But as Dr. Doddridge observes in a note on that
verse, " If the words should be understood as spoken by the Father, our
Lord's applying so many of these titles afterward to himself plainly
proves his partaking with the Father, in the glory peculiar to the Divine
nature, and incommunicable to any creature." For, were he a mere
creature, would it not seem strange, not to say impious and blasphemous,
after the Father had characterized his person by his peculiar titles, say-
ing, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," that he
should immediately echo back the same words, and say, " I am Alpha
and Omega, the lirst and the last," and that he should do this a second
time ; and that after displaying glories, surely above any thing conceiv-
able in man or angel, affirming, " I am the first and the last :" nay, and
should do it a third time, in the same words, Avithin a few sentences, as
is recorded in the 8th verse of the next chapter, " These things saith the
first and the last, who was dead and is alive ?"
If, then, we were in any doubt in what sense to understand the pro-
phets and apostles, when they call Christ God, (as we have seen they
frequently do,) we can be in doubt no longer, when we see epithets de-
scriptive of true and proper Deity; jouicd v.ith the name, and the highest
titles of the supreme God, frequently claimed by him and given to him.
But when, added to this, we find also the incommunicable aitribufes of
the Godhead ascribed to him, surely this, at least, must settle our faith
as to this matter.
17. To know the heart of man, is the province only of Omnucience,
and is claimed by the Lord as his peculiar prerogative in Scripture.
Thus, " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately w icked,
who can know it ? I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins ; even
to give every man accordmg to his ways, and according to the fruit of
his doings," Jer. xvii, 9, 10. And as it is Jehovah's prerogative, so it
is his only. " Thou, even thou only, says Solomon, 1 Kings viii, 39,
knowest the hearts of all the children of men." But the Lord Jesus is
represented in the same mfallible records, as possessing this Divine per-
fection. " Lord, thou knowest all things, says St. Peter, John xxi, 17,
thou knowest that I love thee." "Jesus knew their thoughts," says
Matthew, chap, xii, 25, " Jesus knew all men, says St. John, chap, ii, 24,
25, and needed not that any should testify of man ; for he knew what
was in man." And in confirmation of this testimony, borne by his three
disciples, Jesus himself speaks from heaven. Rev. ii, 23, and says, " All
the Churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and the
heart." Jehovah only searches the heart : but the Lord Jesus searcheth
the heart ; therefore the Lord Jesus is Jehovah. Or, in his person there
is such a wonderful union of Jehovah with manhood, and when the man
speaks, and says, " I am he that searcheth the heart," Jehovah speaks in
and by him. And lest we should suppose, that though be possesses this
branch of Divine knowledge, yet that there are other branches thereof
which he does not possess, St. Paul assures us, " In him are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge," Col. ii, 3.
18. Omnipresence is another peculiar gloiy of the infinite Jehovah.
4.38 A RATIONAL VIXDirATIOX
" Am I a God at liand, says he, Jcr. xxiii, 23, 24, and not a (.'od afar
ofi'? Can any hide himself in secret })1aces that I sliall not see liiin ?
saith the Lord. Do not I fill lieavcn and earth? sailh the Lord." And
yet this glory also is claimed by Jesus Christ. Tluis, " Where two or
three are met together in my name, I am there in the midst of them,"
Matt, xviii, 20. And again, " Lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world," Matt, xxviii, 20. And yet again, " Behold, I stand
at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me," Rev. iii,
20. And who but an injimte Being can be present in every congrega-
tion, and in every place, yea, in ten thousands of congregations, at one
and the same time, and that in parts of tlie earth most remote from each
other? Who that is not present every where, can be present at the
door of every heart, and in the heart of every true believer, that opens
the door, and admits him in ? Surely this shows, at least, that his pre-
sence is as universal throughoiit the globe, as the presence of the light,
or of the air. Nor is it confined to this world of ours, but is extended
through univei'sal nature, through all his immense and boundless works ;
for " by him" (the apostle assures us. Col. i, 17,) or rather [cv aii7w] " in
him, all things consist," (i\ivti-t]Xc, stand together, are upheld or supported,
even by his universally diffused, all-pervading, presence. For he
" upholdeth all things by the word of liis power," Heb. i, 3, " and filleth
all things," Eph. iv, 10, especially his "Church, which is his body ;" to
which he is a head of vital influence, and wliich he so enriches with
gifts and graces, that it is called l)y the apostle, Eph. i, 23, his fulness,
To itXripupM TK ra ifavla rv "Tratfi ■;rX>)f'sfj^£vK, — " The fulness of him thai
filleth all in all."
10. How plainly does it appear, then, that he is possessed of a natine
truly and properly J)[\'me, omniseiencc and ommpresence being most cer-
tainly incommunicable attributes of that immense and infinite .lehovah,
concerning whom the psalmist speaks witli great propriety, as well as
sublimity of thought and expression, in Psalm cxxxix, in words which,
primarily meant of the Father, are, nevertheless, very apphcal)le to Ihe
Son : " O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me : thou knowest
my down-sitting, and my up-rising : thou undersfandest my thouo-hts
atiir olT: thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art ac-
quainted with all my ways : for there is not a word in my tongue, but
lo ! O Lord, thou knowest it altogether : thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thine, hand upon me. Whither sliall I go from thy
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into
heaven, thou art there : if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in
the uttermost i)arts of the earth or sea, even there shall thy hand lead
me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darlmess
shall cover me ; even the night shall be light about me : yea, the dark-
ness hideth not from thee, but the night shiuelh as the day"; the darkness
and the light are both aUke : for thou hast possessed my reins : thou
hast covered me in my mother's womb : my substance was not hid from
thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substaiace, being yet imperfect,
and in thy book were all my members written, which in continuance
were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them."
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 439
20. This omniscience and omnipresence of the Lord Jesus are repre-
sented iu the book of the Revelation, cliap. v, 0, by the " seven eyes" ot"
the Lamb ; and in the same passage, his uhnighly power is represented by
the emblem of "seven horns." And that this is also an attribute of
Christ, appears from the apostle's declaring that he is " able to subdue
all things to himselt?' Phil, iii, 21, which surely speaks the omnipotence
of God. Accordingly, he atfirms to the .Fews, " My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work. What things soever the Father doth, these doth
the Son likewise. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and (juickeneth
them, even so the Son also quickcneth whom he will," John v, 17.
Hence, too, all the godlike works which he wrought in the days of his
flesh, and which he oflen appealed to in proof of his mission, and in
proof of his Deity, saying, " If I do not the works of my Father, [such
works as the supi-eme God does,] believe me not ; but if I do, though
ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that
the Father is in me, and I in him," John x, .37.
21. Two more Divine attributes I shall mention, as ascribed to Christ
in the Holy Scriptures ; viz. eternity and immntahility. Moses well de-
scribes the eternity of .lehovah, where he says, " Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth or the woiid ; even from
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. A thousand years in thy sight are
but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night," Psalm
xc, 2. And what do the inspired penmen speak of the Word, that was in
the beginning with God, and was God? Does not Solomon say of him,
" The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, belbre his works
of old ? I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the
eai'th was. When he prepared the heavens, I was there ; when he set
a compass upon the face of the depth ; when he gave to the sea his de-
cree, (hat the waters should not pass his commandment; when he ap-
pointed the foundations of the earth, then was I by him, as one brought
up with him ; and 1 was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him ;
rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were w ilh the
sons of men," Prov. \iii, 22, &;c.
22. Or if it be doubted whether this was not rather meant of wisdom
as a quahty or attribute of the Deity, and not of the substantial, living
wisdom and word of the Father ; yet surely it must be allowed, if com-
pared with other scriptures, to be perfectly ap]:)licable to him. For our
Lord himself assiu'es us, " that he had glory with the Father before the
world was," Jolm xvii, 5 ; and the Prophet Micali declares, " that his
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting;" or, as the original
means, from of old, " from the days of eternity," Micah v, 2. And the
passages just quoted from the first chapter of the Revelations, in which he
applies to himself the high titles of the eternal God, express the same, or
still more. Hence the apostle, speaking of his type Melchizedec, King
of righteousness, and King of peace, describes him as " without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor
end of life ; but made like unto the Son of God," that is, a proper type
of him who is everlasting.
23. I mentioned also immvlahility, another peculiar attribute of the
eternal God. " \ am Jehovah, says he, Mai. iii, 6, I change not, there-
fore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Father of lights, (says
440 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
St. James,) witli whom is no variableness, neither shadow of Uiruing."
And is not this attribute also ascribed to Christ '/ We have already seen
that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies to him the 25th,
26th, and 27th verses of Psalm cii ; and surely no words can more strongly
express immutability. " They shall perish, but thou remainest : and they
all shall wax old, as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy
years fail not." And, chap, xiii, 8, of the same epistle, he assures us, that
" Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ;" and on this his
unchangeableness, grounds an argument against our being " carried
about with divers and strange doctrines." But why should I dwell upon
particulars? He himself assures us, John xvi, 15, " All things that the
Father hath, are mine :" all the names, titles, and attributes of the Father.
And no wonder, for the Father himself is his, and dwells in him in all
his fulness ; and their union is perfect, indissoluble, and eternal ; so that
the Son is never without the Father, nor the Father w-ithout the Son.
CHAPTER VIII.
That the apostles represent Him as the immediate author of all the Divine
works, even of the creation and preservation of all things.
1. We have already seen, in that remarkable passage quoted at large
from the beginning of St. John's Gospel, that he represented the Word,
"who was " in the beginning with God," as the immediate Creator of all
things. His words are very express : " All things were made by him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made," ver. 3. And
again, ver. 10, " The world was made by him." St. Paul, it is well
known, taught the very same doctrine : " By him (sv ccJlw) were all
things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or
powers ; all things were created by him and for him ; and he is before
all things, and by him all things consist."
2. It is true, the Father, who is the fountain of Deity and of Divine
power, is also the primary cause of all the Divine works. But it is plain,
from these passages, that the apostles considered the Word that was in
the beginning with God, as the immediate author of them, the operative
Creator, (if I may so express myself,) the real and proper framer of all
things, visible and invisible, temporal and eternal. Hence it is that they
apply to him (as we have seen) the words of David in Psalm cii :
"Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of thine hands :" which words certainly
represent the person of whom they are spoken, not as an instrument in
the hands of another, but, in a true and proper sense, the Maker of tlie
world. And this was certainly the opinion of the ancient fathers, as
innumerable passages in their writings show. For the illustration of the
subject, I shall quote two or three pages from Bishop BulVs Defence
of the Nicem Faith ; in which, it will generally be allowed, he fairly
represents the sentiments of these eminently holy men, who, living so
OF THE. CATHOLIC FAITH. 441
near the apostolical age, (some of them being disciples of the apostolic
fathers,) and being so constantly conversant with their "writings, could
not easily be ignorant what the doctrine of the apostles was upon this
subject.*
3. The following passage the bishop gives us (vol. i, p. 128) from
Justin's Epistle to Diognetus, (p. 498:) " He, the Almighty, the Creator
of all things, the invisible God, hath implanted among men, and engraven
in their hearts, the heavenly truth, the Word, holy and incomprehensi-
ble : not sending, as any one w ould conjecture, a servant, an angel, a prince,
an earthly potentate, or one to whom he had intrusted the administration
of heavenly things ; but the Artificer and Maker of all things, by whom
he formed the heavens, and shut in the sea in its proper bounds : whose
mysteries all the elements laithtlilly observe ; from whom the sun has
received his charge to measure out tlie day; whom the moon obeys
when he commands her to shine in the night, and the stars which follow
the course of the moon ; by whom all things are ordered and bounded,
to whom all things are subject, the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that
in them is ; the fire, the water, the abyss ; what is in the heights and
depths, and between them : him he hath sent to them. For what end ?
As a man would think, to tyrannize over them? To awe and terrify
them ? No : he sent him as a king sends a king, his Son, in clemency
and meekness: he sent him as a God : he sent him to man; he sent him
to save."
4. The bishop quotes Athenagoras to the same purpose, (p. 131 :)
" The Son of God is the Word of the Father, in idea, and energy. All
things were made by him, and for him : the Father and the Son being
one ; the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son, by the unity and
poAver of the Spirit. The Son of God is the Mind and Word of the
Father." And (pp. 143, 144) produces from Irenseus, disciple ofPolycarp,
a passage still more explicit : "Nor shall any thing made, and in sub-
jection, be compared with the Word of God, by whom all things were
made, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Because, whether they are angels
or archangels, or thrones or dominions, they are made by him who is
God over all, by his Word. So St. John hath told us. For when he
had said of the Word of God, that he was in the Father, he added,
' All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made.'
David also, when he had particularly enumerated his praises, added,
* For he commanded, and they were created ; he spoke, and they were
made.' Whom did he command ? The Word, by whom the heavens
were made, and the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Now the
things that are rnade, are different from him that made them ; and those
appointed, from him that appointed them. He is unmade, without
beginning, without end ; he wants nothing, is self suflicieut, and gives to
all other things their being. The things made by him had a beginning,
and, as such, may have an end ; are subject, indigent. It is altogether
necessary they shoiUd have a diflerent name, especially among men of
any discernment in such things ; so that he who made all things with
his Word, be justly and alone called God and Lord ; but not that those
which arc made should participate, or justly take to themselves the
name of their Creator."
* I make use of the trnnslation of Fran. Holland.'A. M., rnctor of Sutton, Wilt«»
442
A Rational vindication
5. In the two following pages, tbe bishop quotes two more passages
from IrentEus to the same purpose. "The Son, Avho is the Word of
God, laid out these things from the beginning, the Father not standing
in need of angels for the creation of the world, and the making of man,
for whom the world was created ; nor again wanting a ministerial power
for making these things that are made, and the disposing the affairs of
the world, after the formation of man, but having a sullicient and
ineflable one. For his own offspring, and impress, ministers to him iu
all things, that is, the Son and Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom, to
wiiom angels are subject, and minister." Again : " ' All things were
made by him, and without him was nothing made.' Here is no excep-
tion ; but the Father made all things by him, whether visible or invisible,
sensible or intellectual, temporal, for a certain purpose, or eternal. He
made all things, not by angels, or powers difierent from his mind ; fw
the God of all things wants nothing, but by his Word and Spirit makes,
disposes, and governs all things, and gives being to them."
6. The same doctrine Irenajus delivers in another place, (p. 214 :)
" There is only one God, the Creator, who is above all principality
and power, and dominion and dignity. He is the Father, the God, the
Creator, the Builder, the Maker, that made those things by himself:
that is, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that in them
is, by his Son and Holy Spirit." Again, (p. 369, of Irenaeus' Works:)
" "^^riie angels then did not make, did not form us : they coidd not make
the image of God, nor any but tlie Word of God : no power distinct
(separate) from the Father. Nor did the Father stand in need of them
to make what he had before designed, as if he had not hands of his own.
He has always with him his Word and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit,
by whom, and in whom he freely made all things, and to whom he
spake, saying, Let us make man aller our image and similitude."
7. To these testimonies of Justin, Athenagoras, and Irena.Mis, disciples
of the apostolical fathers, 1 shall add from the bishop, (]). 197,) a passage
of Origen, which the bishop defends as perfectly orthodox. " The Word,
the Son of God, is the immediate, and, as it were, the very framer of
the world : the Father of the Word, in that he ordered the Word, his
Son, to make the world, is primary Creator." (Origen, p. 317.)
8. The fathers, therefore, at least in these passages, (which it will
not be doubted Bishop Bull has fairly represented,) apjjrove this doctrine,
that though ihe Father is primary Creator, yet that the Son, his W^ord,
is tile innnediatc creator and framer of the world. But that he did not
act in this work as a being separate from the Father, but in such a sense
one with him, that the Father, creating the world by him, might be said
to create it by his own hands, as Irena3us' phrase is, or by himself;
according to tiic words of Isaiah, chap, xliv, 24, " I am .Tehovah that
maketh ;dl things, that stretclieth foi1h the heavens alone, that sjireadeth
abroad the earth by myself." For as the Holy Spirit, who is undoubt-
edly of a nature properly Divine, is the " S{)irit of the Father, and pro-
ceedeth from the Father," but though sent forth, is never separated from
him ; so, in like manner, the Word is the Word of the Father : and though
he says he " proceeded forth, and came from God, and that he came not
of himself, but the Father sent him," John viii, 42, yet he is still united
to him, and one whh him ; is still " in the Father, and the Father in him."
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 443
9. What I have said of the creation, must also he said of the preser-
vation of all things. " By him," St. Paul assures us in the above-
mentioned passage, " all things consist," tfuvjSTjxj, are upheld or supported :
" Upholding all things," says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews,
chap, i, 3. Both passages are designedly and professedly spoken of
Christ, but not of him as a being separate iiom the Father, but in, <u\^
with him; for, in and through the Son, all creatures, as St. Paul declares,
Acts xvji, "live, move, and have their being" in the Father, who, we
are assured, " is above all, and through all, and in all ;" creating, pre-
serving, governing, and pervading the universe, and giving life and
energy to every thing through his Son, and by his Spirit. Nay, as all
things acknowledge the Son as their Ci'eator and Preserver, so also as
their Owner and Lord ; for all things were created for him. Col. i, 16,
and he is said to be heir of all, as being the " first begotten, and only
begotten of the Father, and liOrd of all." See Heb. i, 1, and Acts x, 36.
10. Now have we considered tlicse many and mighty works, of which
he is declared to be the Creator, Preserver, and Lord? At least those
of them that come under our observation? Has that glorious luminary,
the sun, engaged our attention, so immense that the mind of man can
scarce comprehend it ; and so bright that no eye c;m steadily behold it ;
and the source of light (o a whole system of worlds? Have we viewed
the moon, walking in brightness, and marked llio wonderful phenomenon
of her waxing and waning glory ? Have the stars of light attracted our
notice, those glittering diamonds, wherewith the finnamcnt is studded
and enriclied, and renilered the most grand and striking, as well as the
most beautifid object that the human eye can behold ? And have we
considered their astonishing distances from the earth, and from each
other; distances so immense, that the whole circuit of the solar system
is but a point, when compared thereto ? Have we reti(;ct('d how proba-
ble it is, that each star is a sun, and each sun a fountain of light to
revolving worlds?
11. Have we marked the planets, whedicr primary or secondary, that
surround our own sun, and observed their different magnitudes, distances,
and revolutions ? And if we have not been able to determine, as to the
probability of their behig inhabited, and stored with sundry kinds of
creatures like our earth ; yet have we considered their wonderful
influence upon the surrounding atmosphere of our own globe, and their
use as "a horologe, — machinery Divine?" appointed for signs and for
seasons, for da}s and for years? Dividing time into sinidry periods,
longer or shorter, by their different revolutions, and thus measuring it
out to those, whose grand business it is, and whose chief concern it
ought to be, to improve it to the glory of their great Maker?
i'Z. Have we surveyed our own globe, that large and valuable estate,
given by the Father ot* all, as a rich and ample inheritance, to Adam
and his posterity ? Have we traversed, not v, ith a measuring line,
indeed, l)ut with the eye of the mind, the bomidless tracts of land and
water of which it is composed ? Have we taken the height of the per-
petual hills, (as Moses calls them,) the everlasting mountains, covered
with eternal snows ; and from bubbling ibuntains, pure brooks, and
descending torrents, dispersing streams and rivers of clear and refresh-
ing water, in niany and meandering courses, through the largest conti-
444 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
nents ? Have we fathomed the depths of the ocean, admired the flux
and reflux of its waters, or ascertained the number of its scaly inhabit,
ants, and marked their different species ?
13. Have we ascended into the regions of the air, and learned the
nature and properties of the particles which compose that subtile and
invisible fluid ? Have we observed how it surrounds the earth as a
swaddling band, binds old ocean in its bed, and, by its pressure, is the
spring of life to the animal and vegetable creation ? Have we marked
the rise of vapours, observed the balancing of the clouds, listened to the
grumbling of thunder, and gazed when the forked lightning played ?
Have we considered the treasures of hail and snow, and viewed atten-
tively the hoar frost of heaven ? Have we admired the provision made
for the ascent of waters into the air, and for their conveyance to the
remotest distance over sea and land, that they may descend in dews and
showers, as well to refresh the high places of the wilderness, as to water
the cultivated and fertile country ?
14. Have we descended below the surface of the earth, examined the
diflerent strata through which we passed, and taken a full and compre-
hensive view of the inineral kingdom ? Have we beheld the quanies of
stone, the mines of copper and lead, and the immense magazines of fuel,
wonderfully formed, and commodiously hid, below the surface of the
earth ? Has the glittering ore of silver, the admired metal of gold, and
the brilliant and sparkling lustre of diamonds and other precious stones,
catched our eyes, and engaged our attention?
15. From the mineral, have we passed to the vegetable kingdom ?
Have we noticed the innumerable kinds of grass that clothe the meadows,
the different species of corn that enrich the fields, the variety of flowers,
of different hues and forms, that beautify the parterre, and the sundry
kinds and ranks of stately trees that wave in the forest ? Have we
considered the different seeds from which they spring, the provision
made for dispersing and planting them in a proper soil, and the astonish-
ing progress of their vegetation ? Have we admired the contrivance,
and adored the power that causes the same spot of earth, with the same
kind of culture, to produce fruits of such different tastes and qualities,
and flowers so endlessly diversified in form and colour ? And have we
praised and glorified the wisdom and goodness which, in the warmest
climes, and most sultry seasons, furnishes us with fruits of the most
cooUng nature, and such as are most replete with juices calculated to
refresh and allay our thirst ?
16. From vegetables, have we ascended to animals ? And have the
innumerable species and kuids with which we are acquainted, passed in
review before us? Have we considered the myriads of animalcula, of
different kinds, possessed of various degrees of hfe and activity, of all
shapes and forms, too small to be discerned by the naked eye, but ren-
dered visible by the microscope, sporting and taking their pastime in one
single drop of water, like leviathan in the deep ? Have we viewed the
thousands of thousands of insects of a larger kind, of all forms and
sizes, varied endlessly, possessed of powers and qualities most astonish-
ingly different from each other, but all suited to the state and manner of
subsistence assigned them ? Have the sundiy kinds of creeping things
and beasts of the earth engaged our attention ? The subtle serpent, the
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 446
wily fox, the stately horse, the majestic lion, the half-reasoning elephant ?
Have we marked the amazing difference of their inward dispositions, as
well as of their outwai'd forms, and the wonderfid provision made for
their support, and the preservation of their different species ? Have
the feathered fowl, and birds of every wing, been considered by us?
Their beautiful figure, their rich plumage, their swift motions, and the
sweet harmony of their diversified notes and artless music ? Have we
admired the pride of the peacock, the innocence of the dove, the affection
of the stork, the rapacity of the vulture, and the strength and swiftness
of the eagle ? Have we marked with what regularity, foresight, and
care, they build their nests, and provide for the safety and subsistence of
their young ?
17. Has man, that masterpiece of Divine workmanship, engaged our
attention ? Have we considered the wonderful structure of his body ?
The more astonishing formation of his mind ? Have we observed his
erect form ? His exact proportions ? His comely figure ? His Divine
face ? His majestic appearance ? Have we marked the number and
variety of his senses and members ? How suited to each other, and to
his state and place upon the earth, and his rank among the creatures ?
Have we reflected upon their contrivance and usefulness, and upon the
profit and pleasure arising from each in particular, and from all in
general ? Have we observed the multiplicity of parts emplo} ed in the
structure of each member or sense, and thi^ir iiappy union in forming
one perfect whole ? Have we examined the eye or ear ? The hand or
foot? The head or heart ?
18. Have we considered the provision made for the nutrition and
growth of the wonderful machine and all its parts, so that the very hairs
of our head, and our finger nails, both useful and necessaiy, do not want
their proper nourishment ? Have we reflected upon the various means
provided for preparing, receiving, digesting, and extracting nourishment
from our food, and throwing off the superfluous parts ? Have we
viewed the astonishing apparatus of veins and arteries, ministering to the
circulation of the blood, and the life of the body ?
19. Have we considered the nervous system, the chief mean of animal
life and sensation ? The wonderful structure of the brain, lodged in the
golden bowl, (as Solomon seems to call the membrane that encloses it,)
and the various and multiplied branchings of the silver cord, the spinal
marrow, spread over all the body, and rendering every part keenly
sensible ? And have we observed how the animal appetites and pro-
pensities strangely ensure the preservation of life, and propagation of the
species ?
20. Have we noticed a spirit in man ? A soul in body ? A mind
in matter ? — an intelligent and free principle ? A power that per-
ceives, thinks, reasons, judges, approves, condemns, wills, desires,
loves, hates, hopes, fears, rejoices, mourns ? — that pervades the earth,
encompasses the heavens, measures the sun, ascends above the stars,
rises from the creature to the Greater, beholds his glory, admires his
beauty, feels his love, tastes his pleasures, imitates his perfections, and
aspires after a conformity to him, and fellowship with him, through
everlasting ages ?
21. Have we reflected that there are minds that were never joined to
446 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
matter, — spirits that never dwelt in flesh? ethereal beings, flames of
fire, angels of Hght, pure and perfect inteUigences ? All life, all activity,
all power? All eye, all ear, all sensibility? Whose knowledge is
mtuitive and certain, whose love is sincere and flaming, whoso praise is
cordial and ardent, and whose obedience is free and constant ? Whose
duty is unintcrmitted, whose loyalty is untainted, whose services are
disinterested, and whose happiness is complete, established, and eternal?
Have we remembered that there are innumerable ranks and orders of
these beings, of which we have no knowledge, and of w hose nature and
state we can form no conception? " Thrones, dominions, principaUties,
and powers ?"
22. Have we taken a survey of tliese wonderful works, both above
and below, both material and immaterial, — and have we considered that
we know not one thousaiidlh part of tiieir number, magnitude, or minute-
ness, or of the contrivance manifested in the formation of the meanest
of them, of a blade of grass, a grain of sand, a drop of water, or a par-
ticle of air or light ? And after all, dare we pronounce that a mere
creature, an angelic, or super-angelic being, was, and is, sufficient for
the creation, preservation, and government of all these and other crea-
tures ? If so, the sacred Scriptures will reprove our rashness, and inform
us that " he who built all things is God :" and that this God is Christ.
For the apostle, in this passage, professedly speaks of him. Ver. 3, he
says: "This person was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who hath buildcd the house, hath more honour than the
house. For every house is buildcd by some man ; but he that built all
things is C4od." The apostle's argument is manifestly this : he that
buildeth the house, hath more honour than the house he buildeth, or any
part of it.
But Christ built the Jewish Church, yea, the whole creation, of which
Moses was but a small, inconsiderable part : —
Therefore Christ is worthy of more honour than Moses : yea, is as
much above him as the (^'eator of all things is above one of his crea-
tures. Again : he that built all things is God : but Christ built all things :
therefore Chi'ist is God ; yea, (in union with his Father,) " the ever-
lasting Cod, JehovaJi — the Creator of the ends of the earth, who faiiitelh
not, neither is weary ; and there is no searcliing of his understaiidiug,"
Heb. iii, 4 ; Isa. xl, 28.
CHAPTER IX.
That Jesus Christ is the Recle&ner and Sammr of lost mankind.
1. As the inspired penmen represent the Word, that was in the be-
ginning with God, as the Creator, Preserver, and Lord of all, — so it will
readily be allowed that they point him out as the Redeemer and Saviour
of fallen man. " Unto you is born, in the city of" David, a Saviour, who
is Christ tlio Lord. Christ Jesus came into tlie world to sa\e sinners;
the Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost ; looking
for the l)lessed ho{)e and the glorious appearing of the great God, even
vur Saviour Jesus Clirist, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 447
US from all iniquity, ami purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous ol
good works."
2. The foundation of this doctrine of our redemj)tion and salvation by
Christ Jesus, it is well known, is laid in the depravity and guilt of man-
kind. " All have siimcd (says the apostle) and come short of the glory
of God : the whole world is guilty before God ;" and Jews and Gentiles,
even all mankind, are " by nature children of wrath," Rom. iii, 19-23 ;
Eph. ii, 3. According to the Scriptures, all have forfeited the ever-
lasting life and happiness for which they were created, and have deserved
death and everlasting destruction : for "the wages of sin is death," even
such a death as stands opposed to that " eternal life which is the gift of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
3. Now it is the uniform doctrine, both of the Old and New Testa-
ment, that the Lord Jesus hath ransomed oiu- lives by laying down his
own. " The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and give his life a ransom for many ; he gave lumsclf a ransom for all ;
he died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; he died for all, when
all were dead ; tasted death lor every man : the Lord laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree ; was
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for oiu' iniquities, and bore the
chastisement of our peace ; was made sin (a sin oflering) for us, though
he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,"
or might be justified through him. Hence we are said to be " redeemed,
not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ," 1 Pet. i, 18 ; to be "bought with a price," and there-
fore not to be " our own," 1 Cor. vi, 20 ; " and to have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our suis."
4. But if Jesus Christ, whose life is thus represented to be laid down
as the price of man's redemption from everlasting death and destruction
to everlasting lite and salvation: if Jesus Christ (I say) be but a mere
man, it is certain his life must be of incomparably less value than this
eternal salvation of all mankind, thus said to be procured by it. For
however holy and excellent we may suppose him to be, } et his life could
not be woj-th the lives of all men — especially his temporal life could not
be worth tiie eternal lives of all men. His parting with a short, luicer-
tain, and afflicted life, and coming under the power of death with regard
to his body merely, and that only for two or three days, (his soul in the
meantime neither dying nor sulTering the loss either of its holiness or
happiness ;) and doing this in sure and certain hope of being raised
again, and receiving, in exchange, after that short space of time, au
eternal and most blessed life : this surely was no such great thing, as
that it could be any proper consideration, or redemption [)rice, on account
of \Nhich Divuie and iniinite justice should deliver an iniunnerable mul-
titude of rational and immortal beings, of exactly the same nature with
this man thus dying for them, not only from temporal, but also from
eternal death ; and should put them in possession of glory and felicity
greater beyond conception than that which they had ibrleited, and last-
ing without end.
T). According to the apostle, one principal end of tlie death ofChrist
was to demonstrate " (^od's righteousness ;" that is, the purity of his
nature, implying his infinite haired to sui ; Ihc uutiiority of his law, which
448 A KATIONAJC VIM)ICATION
denounces vengeance against the sinner ; and the equity of his govern-
ment, or, in one word, his justice. " Justified freely (says he, Rom. iii,
24, &c,) by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
[viz. the blood he hath shed, Eph. i, 7, the price lie hath paid, 1 Cor.
vi, 20,] whom God hath set forth a propitiation, through faith m his
blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness, by [or on account of]
the remission of past sins, through the forbearance of God, for a demon-
stration [I say] of his righteousness, in this present time, that he might
be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." But surely,
if satisfaction could be made for the injury done to the glory of God by
all the sins of all mankind, and their salvation from eternal destruction
into everlasting life and happiness, could be rendered consistent with the
Divine attributes, (in consequence of their repentance,) upon such easy
terms as the giving up one mere man to temporal death for two or three
days, and then rewarding him with supreme dominion and glory at God's
right hand for ever : whatever inference the intelligent creation of God
might draw from hence in favour of his clemency, they could draw none
in favour of his righteousness or justice. They could not learn from this
to form more exalted views of this : but, on the contrary, their ideas of
it would become more conti'actcd ; and they would be inclined to sup-
pose, both that sin is no very great evil, and that God is not much dis-
pleased with it; inasmuch as he would forgive the complicated and
aggravated guilt of so many myriads of simiers, forbear to execute upon
them the vengeance threatened in his holy and righteous law, and even
raise them to glory and felicity inconceivable and etemal, merely be-
cause one mere man, like themselves, died for them. Surely to talk of
God's righteousness being demonstrated by such a scheme as this, — to
say that all this was done to save the honour of his justice, that he might
be (and appear to be) just, while he is the merciful "Justifier of liim that
beUevetli in Jesus," would be highly absurd and ridiculous.
6. " If we be truly sensible of our sins, (says Bishop Pearson,) we
must acknowledge that, in every one, we have offended God ; and the
atrociousness of every offence' must needs increase proportionably to the
dignity of the party ofifended, iri respect of the offender : because the
more wortliy any person is, the more reverence is due imto him, and
every injur)' tendeth to his dishonour : but between God and man there
is an infinite disproportion, and, therefore, every offence committed
against him must be esteemed as in the highest degree of injury."
Hence we know (as the apostle hath assured us) " it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins ;" and we may very
well doubt how the blood of him, who hath no other nature than that of
a mere man, can take away the sins of other men ; there appearing no
such difference as will show a certainty in the one, and an impossibility
in the other.
7. " But since we may be ' bought with a price,' well may we believe
the blood of Christ sufficiently precious, when we are assured," that,
through tjje union of the human nature with the Di\'ine, " it is the blood
of God, (as St. Paul calls it, Acts xx, 28,) nor can we question the
efficacy of it in ' purging our conscience from dead works,' if we believe
Christ 'offered up himself through the etemal Spirit.'" For, "as the
atrociousness of the offence bcarcth proportion to the person offended,
Of THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 449
SO the value of reparation ariseth from the dignity of the person satisfy,
ing, because the satisfaction consisteth in a reparation of that honour
which by tlie injury was echpscd : and all honour doth increase propor-
tionably as the person yielding it is honourable." Notwithstanding,
therefore, "by every sin we have oflended God, who is of infinite emi-
nency, according imto which the injury is aggravated ;" yet we may be
" secure of our reconcihation with God, because the person who hath
undertaken to make the reparation is of the same infinite dignity, so that
the honour rendered by liis obedience is proportionable to the oflence,
and that dishonour which arose from our disobedience."
8. This point is set in a clear light by Dr. Abbadie : — " If Jesus be
God-man, the intimate union of the humanity with his divinity may well
be conceived to render his hfe and blood infinitely precious. Of this
we may assure oui-selves by reasoning from the less to the grer.ier. A
clod of the vallej's, for instance, is of no worth or dignity ; we do not
care how many blows it receives : it makes no difference whether it be
preserved or destroyed. But if it be united to a spirit, the unicn will
immediately confer a dignity upon it ; so as to give a proportionate value
to its actions, or sufi'erings, on the behalf of any one. Then suppose it
exalted to a union with the Divine essence, and its intimate relation to
God will render its vicarious obedience and suffering of infinite worth.
Or thus : If the sufferings of a person of quality be of more value than
those of a peasant ; if those of a king's son, than those of a person of
quality ; and if those of the king himself than those of his own son : it
follows, if we proceed in this gradation ad iirfinitum, and can find a per-
son whose dignity has no boimds, his sufferings will be of infinite value.
Such, according to our hypothesis, is Jesus Christ, for he is God "mani-
fest in the flesh." In all his sufferings, and in the depth of his humilia-
tion, he possessed the glories of the Godhead ; which ennobled and
dignified beyond conception, and beyond bounds, all that he did, and all
that he underwent for the salvation of sinners.
9. " Such a Saviour, being the gift of the Divine Father to miserable
men, must be a present of infinite value ;" and as it could proceed from
nothing but infinite mercy and love, so it renders our salvation consistent
with infinite justice and purity. " But after all that can be said for the
contraiy sentiment, a man is but a man ; and we should exalt the mercy
(and justice) of God at a childish rate, were we to exclaim, ' Unspeak-
able love ! unl)ounded mercy ! which gave (awful justice ! tremendous
holiness ! which required) the temporal life of a mere man for the eter-
nal salvation of all mankind.' Nor would an exclamation of this kind
be much more pertinent on the Arian hypothesis." For, " is there any
proportion — let common sense judge — between the temporal life of any
mere creature (laid down for two or three days) and the eternal felicity
of all the redeemed ?"
10. And as it is not conceivable that the temporal life of a mere man,
or a mere creature, could be an adequate ransom for the whole human
race, innumerable as they are, so as to procure from Divine and infinite
justice their forfeited everlasting hfe and happiness : as it is not con-
ceivable that the blood of such a one, shed tor them, should have so
much more \ irlue than the blood of thousands and millions of bulls and
goats, as to be able to effect what the blood of such creatures could not
Vol. Ill, 29
450 A RATIONAL VINDICATIOX
effect : as, in this sense especially, " no man can redeem his brother, or
give unto God [ns3, his atonement or] ransom," Psalm xlix, 7 ; so every
branch of the salvation wherewith Christ came to save sinners, mani-
fests its author to be more than a mere man, or mere creature. Ac-
cording to the Scriptures, he is " the Light of the world," and enlightens
the amazing darkness of millions of minds : he is the " Life of the
world," and softens the extreme hardness of myriads of hearts : he is
"the Sun of righteousness," and arises upon multitudes of cold, benighted,
bewildered, desponding mortals, with " healing in his wings," so that
they " go forth and grow up as calves of the stall," as Malachi has it :
he is the Physician of souls, and while he pardons the aggravated guilt,
he renews and heals the fallen and disordered nature of all that apply to
him. He is present with his people, all in general, and each individual
in particular, at all times, and m all places throughout the whole earth ;
protecting them against all their enemies, ghostly and bodily, succouring
them in all their temptations, comforting them in all their troubles, and
supplying all their wants : he watches over them by night and by day,
wherever they are, at home or abroad, in town or countiy, by sea or land,
in Britain or in China, as the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls, feed-
ing them " in green pastures," leading them " beside the still waters,"
and restoring their souls : he " preserves them from falling," keeps them
" by his power through faith unto salvation, and presents them faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."
1 1 . Now let these various branches of the salvation wherewith Christ
came to save sinners be considered, and then let it be determined whe-
ther he must not be more than a mere man or mere creature ? Surely
to save sinners with so great a salvation, must be a work of equal diffi.
culty with that of the creation or preservation of all things. Accordingly,
the apostle joins them all together in the passage quoted from Col. i.
For after he has spoken of Christ as the Maker, Upholder, and Lord of
all, he goes on to tell us that he is " the Head of his body, the Church ;
the beginning, the first born from the dead also, that in all things [in
those of grace as well as those of nature] he might have the pre-emi-
nence." For, adds he, "it pleased the Father that in him should all
fulness dwell," viz. all the fulness of wisdom, power, and love : all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily, (nothing short of this being sufficient for
such a mighty undertaking,) " and having made peace through the blood
of the cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, — by hhn [I say,]
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven."
12. Hence the apostle assures us, that " God is in Christ, [the Divine
nature in the human,] reconciling the world to himself;" and the Pro-
phet Isaiah having a prophetical view of Emmanuel, " God with us, God
manifest in the flesh," for the redemption and salvation of lost man,
exhorts us as follows : — " O ! thou that bringest good tidings to Zion,
[see Bishop Lowth's translation,] get thee up into the high mountain :
O ! thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with
strength, lift it up, be not afraid ; say to the cities of Judah, Behold," —
a mere man ? No : — " Behold your God ! Behold, (adds he,) the
i.iOrd God will come with a strong hand, and his arm will rule for him :
behold, his reward is with him, and his work before liira. He shall feed
bis flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 451
carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with
young," Isaiah xl, 9-11.
13. And to the same purpose, in the SSth chapter, speaking of the
happy effects of this manifestation of Jehovah in our nature, he declares,
verse 2, " Tliey shall see tlie glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our
God," and exhorts, — " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the
feeble knees. Say to them tliat are of a feeble heart, Be strong, fear
not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God, with a
recompense : he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped : then shall
the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing,"
ver. 3, 4. All this, it is well known, was literally fulfilled, when the
" Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and men beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
Then were all these miracles, and many others, really and continually
performed. Day bj- day the " blind received their sight, the lame
walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead were raised
up, and the poor had tlie Gospel preached unto them."
14. And these mighty works were done in a way and manner that
manifestly showed that the person performing them was more than man.
Man he was undoubtedly, but not man only: Jehovah, by his eternal
Word, dwelt in that man, aiid did the works by him. Hence, in doing
this mighty work, Christ spake, and acted with an authority and power,
such as neither Moses nor Elijah, nor an}'^ of the prophets or apostles
ever manifested. " Lord, if thou wilt," said the leper, " thou canst
make me clean : Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I
will, be thou clean. Speak the word only, (said the centurion,) and my
servant shall be healed. Jesus said, Go thy way ; and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee." NVhen Peter's v/ife's mother lay
sick of a fever, he only " touched her hand, and the fever left her."
When the " devils besought liim, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to
go into the herd of swine ; he said unto them. Go : and they went into
the herd of swine. When the people were put forth, he went in and
took her by the hand, and the maid arose," Matt, ix, 25 ; see Mark v,
29; Matt, xiv, 34-36 ; Luke vi, 17, 19. "When they came nigh to
the gate of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out, the only
son of his mother, and she a widow : and much people of the city with
her : and when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said
unto her. Weep not : and he came and touched the bier, and said, Yoiuig
man, I say unto thee, arise : and he that was dead sat up, and began to
speak: and he delivered him to his mother," Luke vii, 12.
15. Now was it thus that the prophets and apostles wrought miracles ?
Did they speak in this authoritative manner, as having hfe and power in
themselves to raise the dead, and do cures ? Quite the reverse. " In
the name of Jesus, rise u[) and walk. I command thee in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazarctli to come out of her. Eneas, Jesus Christ
maketh thee whole. And Elijah cried unto the Lord his God, and said,
0 Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom
1 sojourn, by slaying her son ? And he stretched himself upon the child
three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, 0 Lord my God, I pray
ihee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard Iho
452 A KATio^^Ui v^^'DlCATIo^- *
voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and
he revived." See a similar instance concerning Ehsha, 2 Kings iv,
18-36.
16. But these works of mercy done by the Lord Jesus upon the bodies
of men, were nothing in comparison of those done for men's souls. See
one or two instances among a thousand. " Behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed : and when they could not come
nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was : and
Avhen they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of
the palsy lay : and when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of
the palsy. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the
scribes sitting tliere, and reasoning in their hearts, \^'^hy doth this man
thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God only? And
Jesus knowing their thoughts, [and was he who knew their thoughts a
mere man ?] said, Wherefore think ye evil in your heart ? For whether
is it easier to say. Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say. Arise and walk ?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to for-
give sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and
take up thy bed and go thy way into thine own house ; and immediately
he arose, and took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch
that they were amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on
this fashion," Mark ii, 3-12.
17. We see him performing another work of still greater mercy, a
relation of which is given us by an eye witness, who was also the subject
of it, in the following words : " I verily thought with myself that I ought
to do many things contraiy to the name of Jesus of Nazareth ; which
things" I also did. But as I went to Damascus, at midday, I saw in the
way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round
about me and them which journeyed with me : and when we were all
fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and sa}Tng, in the
Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks ; and I said. Who art thou. Lord ? and he
said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy
feet ; for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a
minister and a witness both of these tilings which thou hast seen, and
of tliose things in the which I will appear unto thee ; dehvering thee
from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to
open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
an inheritance among them which are sanctified by iaith that is m me,"
Acts xxvi, 9-19. And is this lustre, exceeding the brightness of the
sun, the glory of a mere man ? Is this voice, '' Why persecutest thou
me ? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest ;" the voice of a mere man?
Is it a mere man that here appears to make a minister, and promises to
deliver him " from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom he sends
iiim ?" And is it by faith in a mere man that they receive forgiveness
of shis, and an inheritance among the sanctified ?
18. Let us attend to this wonderful story a httle farther. Because the
u mazing splendour of Divine glory that had surrounded Saul, upon the
appearance of this august personage, had so dazzled his eyes as to
deprive liiin of sight ; the same gracious Lord, who arrested him in his
OF TIIS CATHOLIC FAITH. 453
mad career to shed the blood of the sauits, and of a blasphemer and
persecutor made him a preacher and an apostle, commanded Ananias to
go to him to restore him : and when Ananias hesitated, saying, " Lord,
I have heard from many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy
saints at Jerusalem, and here he hath authority from the chief priests to
bind all that call on thy name ; the Lord said unto him. Go thy way ; for
he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and
kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things
he must suffer for my name's sake." Mark these expressions, " Thy
saints that call on thy name ; a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles ; how great things he must sutler for my name's
sake." Are the saints the property of a mere man ? Do they call on
a mere man for salvation ? Is it the name of a mere man that apostles
ai'e constituted chosen vessels to bear ? And is it for the sake of a mere
man that they suifer such great things ?
19. Now, as it is certainly the sole prerogative of God to forgive sins,
and receive guilty sinners to mercy, so our Lord manifested himself to
be God, by exercising this power, aiot only in these instances, but in a
great many others recorded in the Gospel. Indeed, all believers are
i-epresented in the Scriptures, not only as having " redemption in his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, and being accepted in Christ the beloved,"
but as being actually forgiven, and accepted by him. " Forgiving one
another, (says the apostle, Col. iii, 13,) even as Christ forgave you, so
also do ye. Receive ye one another, Rom. xv, 7, as Christ also hath
received us to the glory of God." And as for illumination, regenera-
tion, sanctification, consolation, and the whole work of grace upon the
soul, we have already seen he is represented as the author thereof, con-
jomtly with the Father ; and accordingly he is addressed as such in the
beginning of almost all St. Paul's epistles, and in divers other places.
He is " full of truth and grace," and out of his fulness all true believers
" receive, and grace upon grace." It is his grace that is " sufficient
for them," 2 Cor. xii, 9 ; and through him " strengthening them, thev
can do all things," Phil, iv, 13. He is the author and finisher of their
faith," Heb. xii, 2 ; the source and object of their love, Eph. iii,
17-19 ; the spring and end of their obedience, 2 Cor. v, 14, 15 ; Rom.
xiv, 8, 9. They are " more than conquerors through him who hath
loved them," Rom. viii, 37. " He dehvers them from every evil work,
and preserves them unto his heavenly kingdom," 2 Tim. iv, 18 ; and
confers upon them eternal life. " I give unto my sheep (says he, John
X, 28) eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck
them out of my hand."
CHAPTER X.
Tlutt Christ is the universal judge.
1. From works of grace and mercy proceed we to those of justice
and judgment. " Who is this that cometh from Edom ? with d} ed gar-
ments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the
greatness of his strength ? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to
454 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
save. Wherefore art thou red in thme apparel, and thy garments like
unto him that treadeth in the wine fat ? I have trodden the \vioe press
alone, and of the people there was none with me ; and I trod them in
mine anther, and trampled them in my fury, and their blood is sprinkled
upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment : for the day of
vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And
I looked, and there was none to help ; and I wondered that there was
none to uphold : therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me,
and my zeal it upheld me. And I trod down the people in mine anger,
and made them drunk in my fury, and brought down their strength to
.'he ground."
2. Do we wish to see another description of this godlike personage,
this captain of the Lord's host ? This generalissimo (shall I call him ?)
of the armies of heaven ? or rather, this Jehovah Sabaoth, this Lord of
armies ? Then let us open the 19th chapter of the Revelation of Jesus
Christ, by his servant John, and if the eyes of our understanding be not
enlightened to see the glorious sight ; if " he that commanded light to
shine out of darkness, hath not shined in our hearts to show us the light
of the glory of God, in the face (sv ^^oCwttw, in the person) of Christ
Jesus ;" let us at least attend to the highly- favoured disciple, who learned
to know his Master by leaning on his bosom, and hearing the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth. " I saw heaven opened, (says
he,) and behold a white horse ; and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness he dolh judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of tire, and on his head were many crowns ;
and, [N. B.] Hk hab a name written that no man knew^ but him-
self : and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name
is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite
the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron : and he treadeth
the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God : and he
hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, King of kings,
AND Lord of lords."
3. Such is the person who says, "The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men may honour the
Son, even as they honour the Father." And who that considers these
descriptions of his glory given by Isaiah and St. John, the most evan-
gelical prophet, and the most enlightened apostle, can forbear to comply
with the heavenly injunction, and honour him " even as they honour the
Father," by submitting to him, falling at his footstool, supplicating his
mercy unto eternal life, and fleeing for refuge to him, the only hope set
before lost and perishhig sinners ? And O ! how necessary it is to do this
without delay ! How necessary to " kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and
we perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled, yea, but a little !"
how much more, when it burns with unabating fury ! and the " great day
of liis wrath is come!" For then who shall be able to stand?
4. " Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see him, and
they also that pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail bo-
cause of him, even so, Amen ?" Rev. i, 7. " The Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel,
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 455
and the trump of God," 1 Tliess. iv, 16. "The sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light, and tlie stars shall fall from hea-
ven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; and then shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great gloiy : and he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together
his elect from the four m inds, from one end of heaven to another," Matt.
xxiv, 29-31. " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all
the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory :
and before liim shall be gathered all nations, and he sliall separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats,"
Matt. XXV, 31, 32. "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on
it, from whose face the eartli and the heaven fled away, and there was
found no place for them : and I saw the dead, small and great, stand
before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened,
which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books accordmg to their works," Revelation
XX, 11, 12.
5. Now can we behold this glorious person, and doubt of his divinity ?
Can we see
On an empyreal, fiying throne,
Awfully raised, heaven's everlasting Son ;
Virtue, dominion, praise, omnipotence,
Support the train of their triumphant prince I
Night shades the solemn arches of his brows,
And in his cheek the purple morning glows ?
Can we (I say) fix our eyes upon him, and still pronounce that he is
a mere man ? Can we observe him as the " resurrection and the hfe,"
manifesting infinite wisdom and almighty power, in raising from the
dust of death the bodies of all mankind, and by a secret and invisible
energy, in a moment, ui the twmklmg of an eye, forming those of his
saints after a conformity to liis own glorious body ? Can we see them
suddenly caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ? Can we
view all nations gathered before him — all the posterity of Adam — all
that have ever inhabited this spacious globe ? Can we mark ^yith what
infinite discernment of the characters of men, founded on his perfect
knowledge of the human heart, in all its unfathomable depths of deceit,
and endless labyrinths of iniquity, in all its counsels and designs, motives
and ends, thoughts atid desires, he " separates tliem one from another,
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats ?" Can we observe the
righteous justice wherewith he condemns the wicked to fiery torments,
and that in exact proportion to their demerit, and the boundless mercy
whereby he raises his followers to heavenly bUss, rewarding them, un-
worthy as they are, according to their works? Can we (I say) fix our
eyes upon the Judge himself, and behold the most awful process of this
most awful day, and remember that our eternal fate depends upon it,
and yet beheve that the Person upon the throne, before whose bar all
nations of men, and legions of angels, tremble, and to whom, according
to the prophecy, " every knee bows ;" that he (I say) is but a mere man,
and that a mere man determines the states, the final and everlasting
456 A RATTOXAt VINDICATION
States of all (he immense mullitiules of men, and the various ranks of
fallen angels ? Surely this would be a stretch of faith indeed, not to be
found in the most orthodox believer in the Christian mysteries !
But let us hear the Scriptures upon this subject. They are so plain
that it is hardly possible to mistake their meaning. " The mighty God,
even Jehovah, (says the psalmist. Psalm 1, 1,) hath spoken, and called
the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out
of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall
come, and shall not keep silence : a fire shall devour before him, and it
shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call fo the heavens
from above," (viz. the inhabitants of heaven, the heavenly hosts, who
will attend and minister unto him,) " and to the earth that he may judge
liis people. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God
is Judge himself." Mai'k that woi'd, "God is Judge himself," even the
same God, who, conversing with Abraham ages before, concerning the
desti'uction of Sodom, is styled by liim " Judge of all the earth," and
who, as a pledge of his future manifestation in the flesh, often appeared
(as we have seen) in a visible human shape, to the patriarchs and pro-
phets of old. Of him St. Paul speaks, when he says, that, " being in the
form of God," (viz. before his incarnation when he appeared to his ancient
servants, in all ages from the beginning,) "he thought it not robbeiy to
be equal with God," being his very " word and wisdom, his face, efful-
gence," and "express image," assuming, as we have seen, all the Divine
names, titles, and attributes, as belonging to him, in union with the Fa-
ther ; yet " emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made
in the hkeness of men : Jind being found in fashion as a man, humbled
himself" still more, " becoming obedient unto death, the death of the
cross : therefore God also hath highly exalted him," not only his Word
that had glory with liim before the world was, but the humanity assumed
for our sakes, " and given liim a name above eveiy name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those in
earth, and those under the earth, and that everj^ tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
7. It is not denied but that the Judge is man, yea, very man, and, as
man, is distinct from pure and proper Deity : and to this, his manhood,
the apostles often refer in the New Testament. As for instance. Acts x,
38-42, " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with
power : who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil ; for God was with him : whom they slew and hanged on a
tree ; him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, and he
commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he that
is ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and dead," viz. he
that was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, he whom they
slew and hanged on a tree, he whom God raised up, and showed open-
ly, even the "man Christ Jesus." He is the appointed and visible
Judge. But to prevent our mistaking, (were it possible to mistake in
so plain a case,) to prevent our supposing that a mere man, however
dignified and, exalted, could, of himself, be able to judge all the ten thou-
sand millions of men and angels, to know perfectly, and remember
distinctly, every action of eveiy individual of that immense multitude —
every word, every temper, every desire, every thought ; to discern and
OF THH CATHOIIC FAITH. 457
unfold all tlie secret workings of ever^' heart — of every son and daughter
of fallen Adam, and of every fallen angel ; to bring to light all the hid-
den things of darkness, and make manifest all the counsels of the heart ;
to discover all the motives and ends, as well as words and works, schemes
and pursuits arising therefrom, and to know and make known, the true
state and character of every one, so as to pronounce a right sentence,
and assign every saint and every sinner, every man and every angel,
his proper share of praise or blame, happiness or misery : to prevent
our mistaking (I say) m this case, we are repeatedly assured that the
Divine nature is joined to the human, and that God (in and by his eter-
nal ^Vord and M'^isdom) is with and in the man.
8. Tims St. Paul, ]n"eaching at Athens, declares, " God hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man
whom he hath ordained, whereof (says he) he hath given assurance to
all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead," Acts xvii, 31.
Again, Rom. ii, 16, " God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,
according to my Gospel." So that God, in and by man, the Divine
nature in and by the human, brings (as Solomon says) " every work into
judgment, and eveiy secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil." Tims, though the dead, small and great, stand before a visible
man, yet, as St. John assures us, they also " stand before God," Rev.
XX, 12 ; and though " every knee of those in heaven, and those in earth,
and those under the earth, bow, and every tongue confess" to tliat man
whom God hath highly exalted ; yet, in bowing and confessing to him,
they bow and confess to God.
9. The man, therefore, the visible Judge, is not alone when he judges
the world, any more than he was alone when he walked upon the water,
rebuked the wind and the sea, said, " Lazarus, come forth ; destroy this
temple, [my body,] and in three days I will raise it up ;" pronounced to
the sick of the palsy, " Thy sins be forgiven thee ;" proclaimed " I am
the resurrection and the life. I quicken whom 1 will. He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. If any nian thirst, let him come unto me and
drink. Come unto me, ye that are weaiy aiid heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made per-
fect in weakness. Where two or three are met in my name, I am there
in the midst of them. I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world. Upon this rock I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it." But as when he did these wonders, and pro-
nounced these words, (too great, surely, for any creature to perform and
pronounce,) the " Word that was in the beginning with God," and in
union with him, " was God," dwelt in the human nature, and spoke and
acted by that nature ; and as the Father was in the Son, and the Son in
the Father : so when he comes to judge the world in righteousness, the
man does not come alone, but the " fulness of Deity " that dwelt, and
does dwell, and ever \\\\\ dwell in him bodily, comes along with him,
and perceives, and kno^\■s, and speaks, and acts, in and by him, as much
as the soul perceives, and knows, and speaks, and acts, in and by the
body. So that, as David says, " God is, indeed, Judge himself;" and
yet the man Jesus of Nazareth is appointed "Judge of quick and dead."
10. And how exceeding I'easonable and proper does all this appear
to be, even to us, little as we know in Divine things ! Hereby, first, the
458 A ratio::al vindication
Judge is visible — he is a mail like ourselves, and w^e may have access
to him. We need not say, with Job, xxiii, 3, &c, " O ! that I knew
where I miglit find him ! that I might come even to his seat ! I would
order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments : I would
know tlie words which he would answer me, and understand what
he would say unto me. For he may reply. If thou canst answer me,
set thy words in order before me, stand up. Behold I am, according to
tliy wish, in God's stead. I also was formed out of the clay. Behold,
my terror shall not make thee afraid ; neither shall my hand be heavy
upon thee."
" In this (says Bishop Pearson) appeareth the wisdom and goodness
of God, that, making a general judgment, he will make a visible Judge,
whom all may see who shall be judged. ' Without holiness no man
ehall ever see God ;' and therefore if God, as God only, should pro-
nounce sentence upon all men, the ungodly would never see their
Judge. But that both the righteous and unrighteous might see and
know who it is that judgeth them, Christ, who is both God and man, is
appointed Judge : so, as he is man, all shall see him ; and, as he is God,
they only shall see him who by that vision shall enjoy him.
11. "And, secondly, whom can we desire to appear before, rather
than Him, who is of the same nature with us 1 If the children of Israel
could not bear the presence of God as a lawgiver, but desired to receive
the law by the hand of Moses, — how should we appear before the
presence of that God, judging us for the breach of that law, were it not
lor a better Mediator, of the same nature that Moses was, and we are
of, who is our Judge ?" Having dwelt in flesh, and in the days of his
flesh, " having suftered, being tempted," he perfectly knows our frame —
knows what sore temptations mean, and is " touched with the feeling of
our infirmities." Beside, he is our near kinsman, our own brother, a
descendant of our father Adam, of our flesh and of our bone ; and,
therefore, " for his afiinity with our nature, for his sense of our infirmi-
ties, as well as for his appearance to our eyes, he is most fit to represent
the greatest mildness and sweetness of equity, in the severity of that just
and irrespective judgment.
12. " Nor is this a reason only in respect of us who are to be judged,
but, thirdly, in regard of Him also who is to judge ; for we must not look
only upon his being the Son of man, but also what he did and suffered
as Son of man. He humbled himself so far as to take upon him our
nature ; in that nature, so taken, he humbled himself to all the infirmi-
ties which that was capable of — to all the miseries which this life could
bring — to all the pains and sorrows which the sins of all the world could
cause ; and, therefore, in regard of his humiliation, did God exalt him ;
and part of the exaltation due mito him was this power of judging. The
Father, therefore, who is only God, and never took upon him either the
nature of men or angels, "judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg-
ment unto the Son ;" and the reason why he hath committed it to him
is, " because he is" not only the Son of God, and truly God, but also
the Son of man, and so truly man ; because he is the Son of man, who
suffered so much for the sons of men."
13. And "certainly it is a demonstration of the justice of God, so
highly to reward tliat Son of man as to make him Judge of all the
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 459
world, who came into the world, and was judged here ; to give him
absolute power of absolution and condemnation, who was by us con-
demned to die, and died that he might absolve us ; to cause all the sons
of men to bow before his throne, who did not disdain, for their sakes, to
stand before the tribunal, and receive that sentence, ' Let him be cru-
cified.'" He, therefore, who "for the suffering of death was made a
little lower than the angels," nay, lower than the generality of men, —
who was arraigned as a criminal at the bar of Pilate, and expired as a
malefactor on a cross on Calvary, is now rewarded and crowned with
gloiy and honour, comes in the clouds of heaven, sits on a throne of
judgment, summons all nations to his bar, and passes an irreversible
sentence on men and angels !
14. In the meantime, fourthly, his enemies are humbled and degraded,
by being placed at the bar of a man, once poor, mean, and atiiicted ;
whom, in former days, they despised and insulted, hated and persecuted,
arrested, tried, condemned, and crucified. " They who pierced him,
now wail because of him ; and they v/ho would not have him to reign
over them, are now brought forth and slain before him."
Well might Daniel say, " They shall awake to shame and everlasting
contempt !" For, surely, they shall be ashamed and confounded, to bow
to him whom they deemed a limatic — to stand at the bar of him whom
they arraigned at theirs — and to receive their sentence, their final, irre-
\'ersible sentence, from the lips of one whom they formerly condemned
to the most ignominious and disgraceful of all deaths.
Nor man alone ; the foe of God and man,
From his dark den, blaspheming-, drags his chain,
And rears his brazen front, with thunder scared,
Receives his sentence, and begins his hell.
All vengeance past, now seems abundant grace !
Like meteors in a stormy sky, how roll
His baleful eyes ! he curses whom he dreads,
And deems it the first moment of his fall.
Milton supposes that he fell through refusing allegiance to God's
Messiah, to the Word and only begotten of the Father, concerning whom
he says, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." If so, if
he refused to acknowledge him as Lord, by whom himself and all the
heavenly hierarchies had been created, though appearing in a nature
superior to angels in his "form of God," — how must it mortify that
proud spirit, and all the associates of his revolt, to bow at the footstool
of the same person, when united to flesh, and inhabiting a nature formed
out of the clay !
15. As to Christ's loyal subjects, fifthly, whether men thai have been
restored, or angels that never fell, — how must they applaud the wisdom,
revere the justice, and rejoice in the mercy and grace of this dispensa-
tion ! Tlie holy angels must rejoice to see one so exalted and honoured,
toward whom they had maintained their allegiance, when millions of
their companions revolted and rebelled ; — one, whose amazing conde-
scension and love to mankind, when immersed in sin and ruin, they had
admired and glorified ; of whose wonderful birth they had brought
tidings to our world ; whom they had constantly attended, and to whom
they had ministered in the days of his humiliation, when he was a man
460 A RATIONAL \^^^)ICATION
of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and of whose agony in the garden,
and tragical death upon Mount Calvary, they had been witnesses, — and
whom, therefore, they now rejoice to see upon a throne of glory,
judging his judges, and passing sentence upon all the enemies of his
government.
For lo ! now, twice ten thousand gates thrown wide,
Pour forth their myriads, potentates, and powers,
Of light, of darkness; in a middle field,
Wide as creation ! populous as wide !
A neutral region 1. there to mark th' event
Of that grand drama, whose preceding scenes
Detain'd them close spectators, through a length
Of ages, ripening to this grand result ;
Ages as yet unnuniber'd but by God ;
Who now, pronouncing sentence, vindicates
The rights of virtue, and his own renown.
As for liis own brethren of mankind, as he condescended to call them,
they acknowledge the reasonableness, and praise the wisdom of the ap-
pointment, whereby he who bore their sins, acquits their persons, who
preserved them fi'om falling, presents them faultless before the presence
of his glory, and who purchased heaven for them with its various man-
sions, determines their happiness, and assigns each mdividual his proper
and proportionate reward. They were under his government on earth,
and he was always present with them, searching their heai-ts, observing
their works, affording them aid, and exactly marking all their advan-
tages and disadvantages, their helps and hinderances : they ovti, there-
fore, that he is perfectly qualified to be their judge, and applaud the
righteous and equitable appointment, acknowledging that God is righteous
in all his ways, and holy in all his works ! Indeed, assembled wox'lds
will see and confess the equity of his proceedings, and men and angels
unite in one great burst of universal praise !
O ! how sublime the chorus of the skies !
O! how sublime these shouts of joy that shake
The whole ethereal ! how the concave rings I
To see creation's god-like aim and end
So well accomplish'd ! so Divinely closed '.
To see the mighty dramatist's last act
(As meet) in glory rising o'er the rest.
No fancied God, a God, indeed, descends,
To solve all knots — to strike the moral home —
To throw full day on darkest scenes of time —
To clear, commend, exalt, and crown the whole.
Hence, in one peal of loud, eternal praise.
The charm'd spectators thunder their applause ;
And the vast void beyond applause resounds !
16. "And I heard a voice of much people in heaven, saying. Halle-
lujah, salvation and glory, and honour and power unto the Lord our God :
for true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the earth,
and avenged the blood of liis servants ; and again they said, Hallelujah !
and the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures, fell down
and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saving. Amen ! Hallelujah !
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his
servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 461
it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallehijah ! for the Lord
God omnipoteth reigneth ! Let us be gkid and rejoice, and give honour
to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made
herself ready. And to her it was granted, that she sliould be arrayed
in fine linen, clean and white : now the fine linen is the righteousness of
the siiints. And he saith unto me, write. Blessed are they that are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith imto me, These
are the (rue sa\ings of God. And I fell at his feet to worsliip ; and he
said unto me. See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus : worship God," Rev. xix, 1-10.
17. " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I John saw the holy city, tlie new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I
heard a great voice from heaven, saying. Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he A\'ill dwell with them, and they shall be his people :
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes : and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the
former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said.
Behold, I make all things new : and he said unto me. Write, for these
Avords are true and faithful. And he said unto me. It is done, I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto hiiii
that is athirst, of the fountain of the water* of hfe freely. He that
overcometh, shall mherit all things : I will be his God, and he shall be
my son."
18. "And he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb. And
there shall be no more curse : but the throne of God, and of the Lamb,
shall be in it, [the city,] and his servants shall serve him : and tliey shall
see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads : and there shall
be no night there ; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun ;
for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and
ever. And I Jolin saw these things, and heard them, and when I had
heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that
showed me these things. Then he saith unto me. See thou do it not, for
I am thy fellow servant ; worship God. Behold, I come quickly, and
my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall
be : I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and
the last. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify mito you these things
in the Churches. I am the root and oflspring of David, and the bright
and morning star*. He that testifieth these things saith, Surely 1 come
quickly. Amen ! even so. Come Lord Jesus !"
CHAPTER XI.
ThM Divme ivorship has been, is, and must he paid to him.
1. I>' two passages quoted from the lOtli and 22d chapter of tlie Re-
velation by St. John, at the conclusion of the last chapter, we saw a
462. / A EATIOXAL \TM)ICATION
glorious angel absolutely refusing to be worshipped. " I fell down at
his feet to worship hitn, and he said to me, See thou do it not, I am
thy fellow servant." And again : " I fell down to worship before the
. feet of the angel, — and he said, See thou do it not, for 1 am thy fellow
servant ; worship God." Instances of a similar kind occur in divers parts
of Scripture. Thus, Acts x, 25, 26, " As Peter was coming in, Comehus
met him, and fell down at liis feet, and worshipped him : but Peter took
him up, saying. Stand up, I myself also am a man." And again, chap,
xiv, when the inhabitants of Lystra were about to offer sacritice to Paul
and Barnabas, " they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people,
crying out. Sirs, why do ye those things ? We also are men of like
passions with you, and preach unto you, that ye should turn from these
vanities unto the living God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea,
and all things that are therein."
2. Well did these holy men and holy angels understand that Jehovah
alone is the proper object of religious worship, according to what is
repeatedly commanded in the Holy Scriptures. As, " Thou shalt have
no other gods before me," Exod. xx, 3. " Hear, O Israel, The Lord
our God is one Lord," Deut. vi, 4. " Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God,
and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other
gods, (for the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you,) lest the anger
of the Lord thy God be kindled agamst thee, and destroy thee from off
the face of the earth," ver. 13. Again : " Thou shalt fear the Lord thy
God : him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by
his name. He is thy praiSe, and he is thy God," chap, x, 20. To these
and such like passages, the Lord Jesus midoubtedly referred, when he
said, " It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve," Matt, iv, 10.
3. Now, notwithstanding this, it is certain, first, that the same God
who gave the above precepts concerning the proper objects of Divine
worship, hath commanded his Son to be worshipped : secondly, that he
hath accordingly been worshipped, and that both before and after his
incarnation, both while he was on earth, and after his ascension into
heaven ; and, thirdly, that not one instance can be produced in which he
hath ever refused the worship addressed to him.
First, God hath commanded him to be worshipped : as by David in
the 45th Psahii : " He is thy Lord, and worship tliou him." " Worship
him all ye gods," Psalm xcvii : or as it is expressed, " when he bringeth
his first begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God wor-
ship him," Heb. i, 6. But this is still more clearly and fully declai;ed
by our Lord himsolf, John v, 19, in a passage which is the more re-
markable, as it contains an answer to the Jews, who, the historian tells
us, " sought the more to kill our Lord, because he had not only broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his own (i(5iov, •proper) Father,
making himself equal with God." Even to them upon such an occasion
as this, among other tilings, Jesus said, " What things soever the Father
doth, these doth the Son likewise. For as the Father raiseth up the dead,
and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will : for
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment mito the
Son ; that all men should honour the Son, even as the}- honour the
Father : he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who
OF THK CATHOLIC FAITH. 463
hath sent him." See also to the same purpose, Phil, ii, 9-11, com^
pared with Rom. xiv, 11.
4. Now that this was a proper rehgious worship and honour, which
was commanded to be given to the Son of God, is plain, secondly, from
this consideration, — that such a worship and honour was actually paid
to him by those who undoubtedly understood the meaning of the Divine
command. This appears from imiiunerable passages, both of the Old
Testament and the New. It has been proved, that all the appearances
of God made in days of old to the patriarchs and prophets, were made
in his person, " no man ever having seen the Father at any time." Now,
it is certain, they all worshipped the person that appeared to thera.
Jacob worsliipped him at Bethel, " .Jehovah is in this place, (said he,)
and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this
place ! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate
of heaven. And he took the stone which he had put for his pillow, and
set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it : [an act this of
rehgious worship.] And he called the name of that place Bethel, [that
is, the house of God.] And Jacob vowed a vow, saying. If God will be
with me and keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to
eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in
peace, — then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone which I have set
up for a pillar, shall be God's house : and of all that thou shalt give
me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee," Genesis xxviii, 12-19,
Here again, in this prayer and vow, and promise, is every mark of reli-
gious worship. In like manner, he worshipped him at Peniel. For
he " said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me," Genesis xxxii,
25 ; which certainly implied prayer, with faith m his power, and love,
and faithfulness. Moses worshipped him at the bush, and put off the
shoes from off his feet, in token of his respect for the very place where
so glorious a person had manifested his presence, hiding his face also in
sign of the holy shame and confusion he felt. Isaiah worshipped him,
(compare Isaiah vi, 5, with John xii, 1.3,) and said, " Wo is me, for I am
undone, because 1 am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts." Nay, and what is more, he assures us, he saw and heard the
seraphim also worshipping him, and crying ona to another, " Holy, holy,
holy, is Jehovah of hosts, the whole eailh is full of his glory !"
5. And as Divine worship was paid to him before his incarnation,
when he appeared as the angel, or envoy Jehovah, or the " angel of
God's presence," in whom his name, that is, his nature, is, so also, after
his manifestation in the llesh, when he was God-man. Many instances
of this occur in the Gospels : as, " Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, [viz. the blind man, whom he had restored to sight,] and
when he had found him, he said unto him. Dost thou belie\c on the
Son of God ? And he answered and said. Who is he. Lord, that I
might believe on him ? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hasl both
seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord,
I beheve, and he worshipped him," John ix, 35. Now this act of
worship was grounded on his faith in the Lord Jesus as the Son of
God, the promised Messiah, and was attended with a coni'ession of
it ; and, therefore, must imply more than such homage and respect
464 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
as may be paid to men of high rank and character. It must imply
rehgious worship, in which gi'ateful and devout affections, to the be-
nevolent author of so great a mercy as he had received, were felt in
his heart, and manifested by the prostration of his body at the feet
of Jesus. Tliis appears from the case of the lame man healed at
the beautiful gate of the temple, who, though suddenly and wonder-
fully restored by Peter and John, and full of joy and gratitude for so
extraordinary a deliverance, yet did not attempt to worship them on
the account. The reason of this plainly was, he knew Peter and
John were but mere men, and had not healed him by their own
power or holiness, having heard them say, " In the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Hence though, no doubt, he
was thankful to them as the instruments of the cure, and, in token
of this, held them, (as we are told,) yet knowing that they were not
the proper authors thereof, instead of woi'shipping iliem, the sacred
historian informs us, he ■praised God.
6. Nor is that the only instance of Christ's being worshipped be-
cause of his mighty works. Many more occur in the history the
evangelists have given us of his life. Thus, " When the ship was
now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, the wind being
contrary, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them,
walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on
the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit ; and they cried out
for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good
cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And when they [viz. Christ and Peter] were
come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the
ship came and worshipped him, sapng. Of a truth thou art the Son
of God," Matt, xiv, 22, 23. It seems, from these instances, that their
ideas of the Son of God, or true Messiah, included something Divine,
as immediately upon their discovering that Jesus was he, they wor-
shipped him.
7. Sometimes he was worshipped by those that apphed to him
before the cure was wrought, as by the ruler, " who came and v/or-
shipped him, saying, My daughter is now dead ; but come and lay
thine hand on her, and she shall live," Matt, ix, 18. And by the
woman of Canaan, who " came and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
help me," Matt, xv, 25. And, mcthinks, when it is considered that
these outward acts of prostration of (he body were accompanied with
petitions for that help which God alone can afford, it can hardly be
doubted whether they imphed proper religious worship: "Have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou Son of David," verse 22, " Lord, help me,"
verse 25, " Lord, save me !" chap, xiv, 30. But if this be doubted,
surely, when there arose " a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that
the shi|) was covered with the waves, and the disciples came to him
and said, Lord, save us, we perish, and he arose, and rebuked the
wind and the sea, and there was a great calm ;" surely (I say) on this
occasion, prayer was addressed to him for such deliverance as God
alone can give. And, as the persons who applied to him, by making
such a request, manifested that they believed our Lord to be more
Uian a mere man; so by his granting their request, he gave full proof
that he was indeed the God of nature as well as grace, having sove-
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 465
reign power even over the winds and the waves, the most unruly of all
the elements.
8. But whether these be acknowledged to be instances of proper
prayer, addressed to Christ while oh earth or not, certainly that record-
ed Luke xvii, 5, must be allowed to be such. " Take heed, said Jesus,
to yourselves : if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him ; and if
he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times a
day, and seven times in a day turn agaui unto thee, saying, I repent, thou
shalt forgive him." The apostles, struck with the propriety and import-
ance of this precept, and convinced of their own inability to observe it,
without more grace, and especially more faith, immediately say to the
Lord Jesus, " Lord, increase our faith." And the Lord, not in the least
offended with them, nor rebuking them for addressing such a prayer
unto him, rephed, " If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might
say unto tliis sycamine tree. Be thou plucked up by the root, and be
thou planted in the sea, and it would obey you."
9. And if his disciples worshipped him, and called upon his name,
while he was on earth, m his state of humihation, they did this much
more after his resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven,
when he entered into his state of exaltation. Of this we have abundant
proof, both in the Acts of the Apostles and in the epistles. I shall refer
to particular passages, when I have just mentioned the instances,
recorded by St. Matthew and St. Luke, which occurred between his
resurrection and ascension. " As they went, (says the former of
these evangelists,) Jesus met them, saying. All hail ! And they came
and held him by the feet, and worshipped him." And again : " When
they saw him, they worshipped him," chap, xxvii, 9-17. To the same
purpose, St. Luke, chap, xxiv, 50, " He led them out as far as Bethany,
and lift up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he
blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven, and
they (wpoO'xuvvio'av7ss au7ov, having n-or shipped, or rather) worshipping
him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in tlie
temple blessing and praising God." They worshipped him, therefore,
after his resurrection, before and at his ascension ; and that they con-
tinued so to do, appears beyond a doubt, from the proofs now to be
produced.
10. The passage quoted above from the ninth chapter of the Acts is
full to this purpose : " Lord, said Ananias, I have heard by many of
this man [Saul] how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem ;
and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call
upon thy name," tou^ SffixaXoufjiSvouj to ovofjia tfou. And lest we should
suppose that it was the practice of only apart of the first Christians to call
on the name of the Lord Jesus, or that they did this only in some par-
ticular places, we find this same person who had persecuted and destroy-
ed those that called on the name of Jesus, describing all real Christians
every where by this title in the beginning of his first Epistle to the Co-
rinthians ; and distinguishing them hereby from all other peoi)le. For he
inscribes liis epistle unto " tlic Church of God at Corinth, to them that
are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that, in every
place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and
ours." From these passages it appears plain, bevond contradiction or
Vol. in. 30
466 A EATIONAX VINDICATION
dispute, tliat in the first and purest ages of the Church it was the prac-
tice of all who believed oa the Lord Jesus Christ to " call upon his
njune."
11. And that proper invocation or prayer is meant in these passages,
appears so manifestly upon the very face of them, that it would be idle
to spend time in endeavouring to prove it. However, if any doubt it,
let tliem turn to the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where
the very same phrase, both in the original and in our translation, neces-
sarily signifies invocation or prayer as proper to God. " There is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all
is rich unto all that call upon him, s*»xaXou/x£vous au7ov : for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." This last clause,
it is well known, is a quotation from the prophecy of Joel : and there it
is indisputably spoken of Jehovah, the only living and true God, and yet
it is here manifestly applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. For the words
immediately preceding are, " The Scripture saith, [viz. Isaiah xxvhi,
16,] Whosoever believeth on him [Christ] shall not be ashamed." And
the words following, " How, then, shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed ? And how shall they beheve in him of whom they
have not heard ? And how shall they hear without a preacher ? And
how shall they preach, except they be sent 1 As it is written, How beau-
tiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things ! But they have not all obeyed the Gospel.
For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our repoil? So, then, faith
Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." So that this
passage proves, to a demonstration, three things : it proves, first, that
the phrase, " calling upon the name of the Lord," means proper invoca-
tion or prayer. It proves, secondly, that the Lord Jesus may, and must
be thus called upon by all that beUeve in him and would not be ashamed,
by all who desire and expect salvation ; and if compared with Joel, it
proves, thirdly, that tliis Lord Jesus is Jehovah, Jelwvali bemg the word
used, and Jehovah the person spoken of by that prophet.
12. And as it is plain, from these passages, that prayer was addressed
to the Lord Jesus by the primitive Christians in the first and purest ages
of the Church, according to the prediction of David, " Prayer shall be
made unto him, and daily shall he be praised," Psalm Ixxii, 15 ; so if
we come to particulars, we shall find several individuals, whose example,
in this instance, we need not fear imitating, actually and repeatedly
praying to him. The case of Stephen, recorded Acts vii, 59, is well
known, and has occasioned infinite trouble to the Socinian party. They
have been forced, at last, to this strange and weak subterfuge, — that,
however Stephen might be justified in praying to the Lord Jesus when
visible at the right hand of God, we cannot be justified in praying to
him, who do not see him, and, therefore, cannot be sure that he is pre,
sent with us, or hears our prayers.
13. Accordingly, Dr. Priestley tells us, in his History of CoiTuptions,
(p. 141,) "It is something extraordinary that the Socinians in Poland
thought it their duty, as Christians, and indeed, essential to Christianity,
to pray to Jesus Christ, notwithstanding they believed him to be a mere
man, whose presence with them, and whose luiowledge of their situa-
tion, they could not^ therefore, be assured of; and though they had no
OF THE CATIIOUC FAITH. 467
authority whatever in the Scriptures for so doing, nor, indeed, in the
practice of the primitive Chinch, till near the time of the council of
Nice." How far the doctor is right in these plain and peremptory
affirmations, that there is " no authority whatever in the Scriptures " for
praying to Jesus Christ, " nor in the practice of the primitive Church,
till the time of the council of Nice," the testimonies now adduced suffi-
ciently show : but with regard to the Socinians of Poland, or any others,
" thinking it their duty, as Christians, and indeed, essential to Christian-
ity, to pray to him, notwithstanding they believed him to be a mere
man, whose presence with them, and knowledge of their situation, they
could not, therefore, be assured of," — it surely is, as he says, something
extraordinary. The case, however, is plainly this : notwitlistanding the
erroneous opinion they had entertained concerning his mere humanity,
and the prejudice they therefore must have been under against address-
ing prayer to him, as " not being assured," as the doctor has it, " of liis
presence with them, or his knowledge of their situation ;" yet the evidence
was so strong from the Scriptures, and the earliest accounts we have of
the primitive Church, that the apostles, evangelists, and first Christians
prayed to him, that they could not but think it their duty, as Christians,
to pray to him also, and that it was even essential to Christianity so to do.
14. But to return : — Instead of arguing, as Dr. Priestley, Mr. Lindsey,
and others of the present Socinian writers do, that Stephen's worship-
ping Christ when he saw him, and was in immediate danger of death, or
rather, was actually dying by the hands of his enemies, does not author-
ize those to do it who see him not, and are in no such danger ; I should
incline to draw a directly opposite conclusion from the fact : I should
say, if Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, and under the immediate, clearest,
and fullest vision of Christ's true character, and real state, dignity, and
glory, saw it proper to pray to him, and say, " Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit ;" then, as we may be perfectly sure that Stephen in these circum-
stances could not be mistaken, it must be right and proper for all men
to pray to him. And if Stephen, in the most critical and dangerous
situation a mortal can be in, surrounded with enemies, visible and invisi-
ble, and in the most awful moment of his hfe, on the very verge of death
and eternitj', offered to Jesus the most important petition that ever came
from the lips of any creature, and committed even his immoital spirit
into his hands, in full assurance of his taking charge of it, then we may
safely pray to him on any occasion, and for any blessing that we want
whatsoever, persuaded there is nothing that he cannot and will not do.
And perhaps I may add a third observation : — ^If Stephen, being full of
the Holy Ghost, and looking steadfastly into heaven, not only saw the
" heavens opened, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God," but
saw also " the glory of God," viz. the Father ; yet, in this full vision of
the Father and the Son, did not immediately address the Father, but the
Son, on tliis most critical and important occasion, — then surely we are
authorized, at least sometimes, to do the same, and to direct our prayers
immediately to the Son, and only remotely to the Father.
15. And here I beg leave to observe, that the Socinian practice of
addressing the Father immedialely, without the mediation of his Son, and
discarding the atonement, nitercession, and whole mediatorial office of
the Lord Jesus, as it is in direct opposition to the general tenor of the
468 A KAXIONAL VINDICATION
oracles of God, and the practice of the apostles and first Christians, so
it appears from the plain, express declarations of our Lord, that it is, at
best, lost labour. For the Lord Jesus has positively affirmed, " that no
man cometh unto the Father but by him." Add to this, that the apos-
tles and primitive Christians seem manifestly to have considered the
Father as being in the Son, and the Son in the Father, in such a sense,
that, when they prayed to the one Divine and sacred person, they prayed
to the other also. When they prayed to tlie Father, they considered
him as in the Son, and only to be approached through the Son ; and when
they addressed their prayers to the Son, they did not consider him as
divided from the Father, but beheld the Father in him, and him in the
Father, by an indissoluble and eternal union. Nor did they consider
Christ, in his mediatorial character, as the ultimate object of their prayers
and praises, and other acts of worship, but viewed them as terminating
in the Father, and ultimately redounding to his glory. See, to this pur-
pose, John xii, 44, 45; Phil, i, 11 ; 1 Peter i, 21. And, I trust, we
consider these tilings in the same light. So that the Socinians, or
Unitarians (as they rather choose to call themselves) need be under no
apprehension that we are robbing God, the Father, of his honour ; for
as " Christ is his," (as the apostle tells us, 1 Cor. iii, 23,) his Truth,
his Wisdom, his Son, his Image, and neither is, nor can be, separated
from him, being (as Philo says of the Logos) ziarpog oixog sv w 5iaA<raTai,
the Father's house in which he dwells ; and as he is constituted by the
Father both Lord and Christ, Acts ii, 36, so all the honours which we
pay to him, we pay not only on account of his own personal dignity,
and with a view to his own particular glory, but also in obedience to the
Father's command, and with a view to his honour and glory, in whose
honour and glory they ultimately terminate. Indeed, the great danger,
in this affair, seems to be the separating the one Divine subsistence from
the other, and the opposing the one to the other, as though they had dis-
tinct wills and different interests. Were we to divide the Son from the
Father, and consider liira as a separate being, and worship him as such,
then, indeed, we should worship another God. Or were we to oppose
him to the Father, and view him as having an interest, or honour, or
will of his own, distinct from, and unconnected with the interest, honour,
and will of his Father, in that case, also, we should have another object
of supreme adoration. But inasmuch as we firmly believe our Lord's
declaration, " I and my Father are one ;" inasmuch as we consider
them as having but one interest, one honour, one will, and as being
indissolubly and eternally united ; so we beheve when we honour the Son
we honour the Father, and when we honour the Father we honour the
Son : for we honour the Son in obedience to the Father, and as the Son
of the Father, and behold the name, nature, and authority of the Father
in him : and we honour the Father as the Father of this Son, view him
as dwelling in the Son, and approacli him through the Son.
16. But to return : — As Stephen prayed to the Lord Jesus, and com-
mitted his departing spirit to his care, as the man Christ, in similar lan-
guage, had commended his into the hands of his Father ; so St. Paul
assures us he " besought him thrice," that the <' thorn of the flesh, the
messenger of Satan," sent to "• buffet him, might depart from him," see
2 Cor. xii, 7-9. For that the Lord Jesus is the person meant here is
or THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 469
plain, from the answer given by the Lord to this importunate and re.
peated prayer, and from the apostle's resolution upon it. And he (the
same Loi-d to whom he prayed) said unto me, " My grace is sufficient
for thee : my strength [v) (Suvajjn?, my powcr~\ is made perfect in weak-
ness : most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ, r) (Juvafxi^ th X^i^s, [the very same word] may rest
upon me." Now who does not see that the Lord, to whom he prayed,
and who answered liim, and said, " My grace is sufficient for thee, my
power is perfected [or perfectly displayed] in weakness," is Christ,
whose power rested upon tlie apostle, and was gloriously manifested,
both in supporting him under all his infirmities, afflictions, and persecu-
tions, and in rendering these things, which appeared to be for the hin-
derance of the Gospel, subservient to its greater progi'ess?
17. And, indeed, nothing can be clearer than that, throughout all his
epistles, St. Paul considered Christ as a person in whom " all fulness
dwells," and, therefore, looked up to him, as well as to the Father, in
and through him, both lor success in his labours, and for grace to be
conferred upon himself and upon all the Churches to which he ministered.
Hence it is that he begins almost all his epistles with such expressions
as the following : " Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. i, 7 ; 1 Cor. i, 3 ; 2 Cor. i, 2 ; and con-
cludes them with, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,"
Rom. xvi, 24 ; Phil, iv, 23 ; 2 Thess. iii, 18 ; or, "The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you," 1 Cor. xvi, 23 ; or, "The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit," Gal. vi, 18; or, "The Lord
Jesus Christ be ^^'itll thy spirit," 2 Tim. iv, 22 : all which expressions
are proper prayers, and certainly imply that the Lord Jesus is more than
a mere man, yea, than a creature ; otherwise whatever grace he might
have himseltj he could have none to spare for others.
18. Add to this, that in the Epistles to the Thessalonians, we find this
same apostle addressing two set, solemn, and formal prayers to the Lord
Jesus, together with the Father. " Now God himself," (says he, first
epistle, iii, 11—13,) "even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct
our way unto you, and the Lord [viz. Christ] make you to increase and
abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do
toward you ; to the end that he [Christ] may establish your hearts un-
blamable in holiness before God, even our Father." And, in the second
epistle, chap, ii, 16, 17, we read, "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God, even our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us ever-
lasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts,
and establish you in every good word and work." Doubtless Dr.
Priestley had o\erlooked these passages, when he carefully searched the
New Testament, and found, upon the most accurate examination, that
the Socinians in Poland " had no authority whatever ui the Scriptures,
nor, indeed, in the practice of the primitive Church, till after the council
of Nice, tor ])raying to the Lord Jesus."
19. Or, perhaps, as he thinks St. Paul to be an "inconclusive reasoner,"
he may not consider his epistles to be a part of what he calls "the Scrip-
tures." And inasmuch as it is plain St. Paul worshipped the Lord Jesus,
and the doctor is sure it is idolairy to worship him, he must judge that,
though an apostle, he could be no member of the true primitive Church.
470 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
So that his example is set aside, together with his doctrine, and, accord-
ing to the doctor, there is no authority in either that can justify so vile
a practice as that of worshipping Christ. As to the other apostles, as
the doctor has " often avowed himself not to be a believer in their inspi-
ration as writers," I presume he can hardly think their writings to be
sacred Scripture any more than St. Paul's. So that with him the Scrip-
tures must lie in a little compass, the whole New Testament, at least,
being discarded. And as to the Old, it would seem, from what he says
of the books of Moses, (the foundation of all the others,) that he has not
a much higher opinion of it. For he tells us, " he thinks himself at
liberty to consider the history which Moses has given us of the creation
and fall of man as the best he could collecl from tradition ;^^ and adds, "In
my opinion, also, there are many marks of its being a lame account ;
and far from solving the difliculty which it seems intended to answer,
namely, the introduction of death and calamity into the woi'ld." The
authority, therefore, of neither Testament can be great with the doctor,
to justify any doctrine or practice whatever, which does not suit his pre-
conceived notions.
20. But to return : — It deserves to be inquired by those who deny the
divinity of Christ, how a mere man, or mere creature, could use the
following and such like expressions; and whether such expressions do
not fully authorize prayer to be addressed to him ? " Come unto me, ye
that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink : he that believeth on me, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. If thou knewest the gift of
God, and who it is that saith to thee. Give me to drink, tliou wouldst
have asked of him, and he would have given thee hving water : whoso-
ever drinketh of this water shall thirst again ; but whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst : but the water that
I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up to ever-
lasting life. To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of
Hfe in tlie midst of the paradise of God. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee the crown of life. To him that overcometh, will I
give to eat of the hidden mamia, and I will give him a white stone, and
in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that
receiveth it." It seems to me if such declarations, invitations, and
promises as these, do not encourage and authorize us to pray to the Lord
Jesus for such blessings of gi-ace and glory as we want, and he, the
faithful and true Witness, so solemnly and repeatedly testifies he can and
will give to all that properly apply to him for them, there are no pas-
sages in Scripture that encourage or authorize us to pray even to the
Father : for there neither are, nor can be, passages more express and
full than these are. But if tliese and such like passages do authorize
and encourage us to apply to the Lord .lesus in prayer, then why does
Dr. Priestley, and other Socinians, take upon them to forbid us to do so?
And how will they answer it to him who says, " If any man shall take
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away
his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are Avritten in this book."
2i. As we have clearly seen that prayer has been, and is to be, made
to the Lord Jesus, so we shall see that praise has been, is, and ought
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 471
to be addressed to him. And this certainly is another act of proper,
religious worship. St. Peter, in his two short epistles, furnishes us with
a full proof that this is to be offered to the Son as well as to the Father.
For he concludes his first epistle with ascribing it to the Father, and his
second epistle with ascribing it to the Son, in language of exactly the
same import. Speaking of the Father as " the God of all grace, who
hath called us to his own eternal glory by Christ Jesus," he says, " To
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever! Amen !" And speaking
of the Son, in whose grace, and in the knowledge of whom he exhorts
us to grow, he says, " To him be glory now and for ever ! Amen !"
Similar to this is the language of St. John, " Unto him that hath loved
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us
kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and do-
minion for ever and ever!" Rev. i, 5, 6. And well might St. John
ascribe glory to his Lord ; for he had seen him worshipped, and had
heard glory ascribed to him by angels and archangels, and all the com-
pany of heaven. Thus, " And I beheld, and heard the voice of many
angels round about the throne, and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying, with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every
creature which is m heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and such
as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying. Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever," Rev. v, 11-14.
22. Now let it be observed, that prayer and praise imply every other
act of worship, whether internal or external. Prayer, when it is sin-
cere, necessarily implies desire, conjidence, and hope ; and praise implies
gratetvde and low. If, therefore, prayer is to be addressed to the Lord
Jesus, this implies that our desire is to be to him, our confidence in him,
and our expectation from him, for such blessings as we stand m need of.
And if praise is to l)e oftered to him, this signifies that he is to be the
great object of our love and gratitude. Accordingly, we find this was
the case with the apostles and primitive Christians : their desire was
directed unto the Lord Jesus, and their confidence and hope were placed
in him, for the greatest of all blessings, even for eternal salvation : and
he, in union with his Father, was the great object of their unlimited
gratitude and love. If I were to quote all the scriptures that would be
to my purpose, I might transcribe a great part of the New Testament.
The epistles of St. Paul, especially, abound with instances of it. A few
passages of Holy Writ I shall produce as specimens of the rest : — " Be-
hold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
corner stone, a sure foundation ; he that believeth shall not make haste,"
Isa. xxviii, 16. " Whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed,"
Rom. X, 11. "He that believeth in him shall not be confounded,"
1 Pet. ii, 6. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me," John xiv, 1.
" There shall arise a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to reign over
the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust," Rom. xv, 12. "That we
should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom
ye also trusted," Eph. i, 12, 13. "Jesus Christ, our hope," 1 Tim. i, 1.
" Christ in you, the hope of gloiy," Col. i, 27. " I thank Christ Jesus
472 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry," 1 Tim. i, 12. " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me ? Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowcst that I love thee. Grace
be with all tiiose that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," Eph. vi,
24. " If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be anathema, maran-
atha," 1 Cor. xvi, 22.
23. Now all these, and such like passages, show that the Lord Jesus
was worshipped, and that in tlie highest sense, viz. in spirit and in truth,
and widi the best and purest worship, the worship of the heart. They
show that he was the object of the religious confidence and hope, grati-
tude and love of liis ancient servants, and that in an unhmited degree,
which surely no mere creature ever was, or could be. And as a fruit
of this, (heir whole life was dedicated to him : " the love of Christ con-
strained them, so that they lived not unto themselves, but unto him that
died for them, and rose again," 2 Cor. v, 14, 15. Yea, "none of them
lived to himself, and none of them died to himself, but whether they Uved,
they lived unto the Lord, [Christ,] or whether they died, they died unto
the Lord. Living or dying, therefore, thej^ were the Lord's." Con-
sidering themselves as his servants, Phil, i, 1 ; James i, 1 ; 2 Pet. i, 1,
they were wholly devoted to do his will, and promote his glory, not
" accounting their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might finish
their course with joy, and Christ might be magnified by their bodies,
whether by life or death."
24. " Had we, then, hitherto doubted whether Jesus Christ would
have men regard him as God, we could doubt of it no more, when we
see him pemiitting and requiring men to worship him. If he be God
by nature, he has reason to claim adoration ; but if he be not, we cannot
pay it him without a land of sacrilege. Certainly, were all the rest
supportable, this could not be borne or excused in any wise : for a
creature to make himself equal with the Most High, not by words only,
but actions too.
25. "It is pretended, indeed, that there are two sorts of worship: a
subaltern, or inferior kind, which may be paid to creatures ; and a
supreme, which can be paid to the supreme God only. But this avails
nothing : for, first, we see that Christ laid claim to the highest adoration,
and would have us to do for him what was never done but for tlie Most
High. We ought to give our hearts to God, to love him above all, and
it is to God alone that we owe this : but we owe it to Jesus Christ. We
ought to love him above what we love most, even our Hfe. ' If any
man hate not his own life (saith he) for my sake, he is not worthy of
me.' We owe to God, not the sacrifice of bullocks and lambs, but the
sacrifice of our blood, and of our life ; a spiritual sacrifice, worthy of a
religion, and a covenant, more perfect than that of the law. But Jesus
Christ requires us to pay him this ; which was never done for any but
God. It is, therefore, every way plain, that he would have us worship
him as (in union with the Father) the most high God.
26. "That inferior or subaltern kind of [religious] worship, of which
some love to speak, was not known either by our lawgiver, or the pro-
phets, or Christ himself, or his apostles, or the holy angels.
" Two consideraUons show that this subaltern worship was not known
to the lawgiver. T\\q first is, that he forbids, in general, all worship but
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITII. 473
that of the supreme God. Now this he would not have done, if there
had been a sort ot'subahern [rehgious] worship, which was still lawful ;
lest he should lay a snare for men, by so ambiguous an expression as
would naturally entangle them in error. He would not have forbidden
us, in general, to worship any but Cod ; but to worship anv other with
supreme worship. The second is, that the lawgiver manifestly designed
to stop the course of heathen idolatry. Now, the idolatry of tlie heathens
properly lay in paying this subaltern worship to many gods : for they
also, generally, as well as the Jews, acknowledged one Supreme Being.
27. " I say, in the secotid place, that the prophets knew nothing of
tliis subaltern worship : for they had no example of it before their eyes.
They had never heard it spoken of. They never mentioned it themselves.
Tliey scoft'at those subaltern gods of the heathens, as not being able to
comprehend how they could I'egard or worship, as gods, any other being
than Him who governs the world, and who created heaven and earth.
But this they certainly could not have done, had they known that there
was, or would be, in the fulness of time, a subaltern and dependent
God, who ought to be worshipped, though he did not make or govern the
world.
28. " Thirdly, the apostles knew nothing of this distinction between
supreme and subaltern worship. They thought that all, even outward
worship, paid to a creature, was an injury to the Creator. When
Cornehus fell down at Peter's feet, he did not take him fiir God. He
knew him well to be but a man : this, therefore, could be but a subaltern
worship. Yet, as even this outward worship was an action, consecrated
by custom, to denote the honour paid to the Supreme Being, St. Peter
could not suffer that to be done to him, which ought to be done to God
only. ' Arise, (said he,) I also am a man :' giving us hereby two
invincible proofs, that it is in no case lawful to worship any other than
the supreme God. The first, that St. Peter condemns this action from
a concern for the glory of God : whence it appears, that subordinate
worship, as well as all other, paid to any but God, is contrary to his
glory. The second, inasmuch as it appears fi'om hence, that whoever
is by nature a mere man, has no right to any worship at all, supreme or
subaltern.
29. " In the fourth place, the angels know nothing of this subaltern
worship : otherwise, this angel, who spake to St. John, would not so
earnestly have rejected that which the apostle was willing to pay him.
St. John did not take him for God ; for he had just been saying, ' The
Lord God of the holy prophets hath sent his angel to show his servants
the things wliich must be shortly.' St. .John, therefore, would have
worshipped him because he was an angel of God, not because he thought
he was God himself. But tliis angel, who made none of these distinc-
tions, said to him, ' Worship God ;' showing, in the plainest manner,
that worship, of whatsoever sort, must be paid to God alone." (Abbadie
abridged.)
30. The reader will pardon my subjoining another short extract
here. " It is something surprising, that when this religion, with this
duty (worshipping Christ) in it as a part of it, was first published in
Judea, the Jews, though implacably set against it, yet never accused it
of idolatry : though that charge, of all others, had served their purpose
474 A RATIONAl- VINDICATION
the best, wlio intended to blacken and blast it. Nothing would have
been so well heard, and so easily apprehended, as a just prejudice
against it, as tliis. The argument would have appeared as strong as it
was plain : and as the Jews could not be ignorant of the acts of the
Christian worship, when so many fell back to them from it, who were
offended at other parts of it ; so they had the books, in which it was
contained, in their hands. Notwithstanding all which, we have all
possible reason to believe, that this objection against it was never made
by any of them in the first ages of Christianity. \
31. " The silence of the apostles, m not mentioning nor answering
any such objection, is a plain proof of the silence of the Jews on this
head : for it would indeed disparage all their writings, if we could think,
that while they mentioned and answered the other prejudices of the Jews,
which, in comparison of this, are small and inconsiderable matters, they
passed over this, which must have been the greatest and plausiblest of
them all, if it was one at all. Therefore, as the silence of the apostles
is a clear proof of the silence of the Jews, and since their silence could
neither flow from their ignorance, nor their undervaluing of this rehgion,
it seems to be certain that the first opening of the Christian doctrine did
not carry any thing in it that could be called the worshipping of a
creature. For it is not to be imagined, that they would have been silent
on this head, if a creature, a mere man, had been thus proposed among
the Christians as the object of Divine worship.
32. " As it follows, from hence, tliat the Jews must have understood
this part of our religion in such a manner as agreed with their former
ideas, so we must examine these. Now they had this settled among
them : that God dwelt in the cloud of glory, and that, by virtue of that
inhabitation. Divine worsliip was paid to God as dwellmg in the cloud ;
that it was called ' God, God's throne, his holiness, his face, and the
light of his countenance.' They went up to the temple to worship God,
as dwelling there bodily ; that is, substantially — so bodily sometimes
signifies — or in corporeal appearance. This seems to have been a
person that was truly God, and yet was distinct from the Father ; for
this seems to be the import of these words : ' Behold, I send an angel
before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place
which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice. Provoke
him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions ; for my name is in
him.' These words do plainly import a person to whom they belong ;
and yet they are a pitch far above the angelical dignity. So that angel
must here be understood in a large sense, for one sent of God ; and can
admit of no sense so proper as that the eternal Word, which dwelt after-
ward in the man Christ Jesus, dwelt in that cloud of glory. It was also
one of the prophecies received by the Jews, ' That the gloiy of the
second temple was to exceed the glory of the first.' The chief character
of the glory of the first, was that uihabitation of the Divine presence
among them. From hence it follows, that such an inhabitation of God
in a creature, by which that creature was not only called God, but that
adoration was due to it upon that accomit, was a notion that could not
have scandalized the Jews, and was indeed the only notion that agreed
\vith their former ideas, and that could have been received by them with-
out difficulty or opposition. This is a strong inducement to believe that
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH, 475
this great article of our religion was, at that time, delivered and under-
stood in that sense." {Bmiiet on the Articles.)
CHAPTER Xir.
TTiai Jesiis Christ is also very wan, of a reasonable soul , and human flesh,
subsisting,
1. IjfASjrucH as it appears from the preceding chapters, that the Holy
Scriptures afford such clear and abundant proof of the divinity of
Christ, it may justly appear strange that any, who sincerely desire to
know the truth, and with a view thereto diligently search these sacred
records, should entertain any doubt concerning it. But one reason of
this may be, the same Divine oracles which represent him as God, do
also, in many other passages, speak of him in a very different and
inferior character ; nay, and affirm things of him absolutely incompatible
with true and proper Deity. They tell us, that he was conceived and
born, was an infant, a child ; that he " grew in wisdom and in stature ;"
nay, and " in favour with God and man :" that he was subject to all the
infirmities of human nature ; felt hunger, thirst, weariness ; eat, drank,
slept; that he was sensible of mere human affections, such as sorrow,
Matt, x.wi, 38 ; joy, Luke x, 21 ; love, John xi, 5. They signify that
he was weak and ignorant in some things, not being able to do any thing
of himself, and not knowing the day of judgment ; that he loved God,
obeyed his commandments, and sought his glory ; that he frequently
prayed to liim as to "One that was able to save him," and once in
particular " offered up strong cries and tears, and was heard in what he
feared ;" that at that time his " soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death ;" and he entreated his disciples to " watch with him ;" that he
then went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, " O
my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt ;" that after returning to his disciples, he
" went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father,
if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be
done ;" that he " went away a third time, and prayed, saying the same words,
and there appeared an angel unto him, strengthening him : and being
in an agony, he prayed the more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it
were, great drops of blood falling to the ground ;" that when on the
cross, he cried out, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit ; and gave up the ghost."
2. Now, how shall we account for all this? Surely by allowing
what the true catholic Church has allowed, and believed, in all ages ;
that he who is God is also man ; that he who is the root is also the
offspring of David, Rev. xxii, 16. As the root of David, he is David's
Creator, the author of his existence, the source of his being, and, there-
fore, his King and Lord, Psa. ex, 1 ; and Matt, xxii, 4.3. As David's
offspring, he is his true son, his real descendant. Now, as in the
former character he is very God, possessed of a nature truly Divine, so
in this latter he is very man, possessed of a nature truly human. Thus
Bishop Pearson : —
476 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
" When we say that he was conceived and born, we declare he was
made really and truly man, of the same human nature which is in all
other men, who, by the ordinary way of generation, are conceived and
born. For ' the mediator between God and man, is the man Christ
Jesus :' that since ' by man came death, by man' also should come
' the resurrection of the dead.' As sure, then, as the first Adam, and
we who are redeemed, are men, so certainly is the second Adam, and
our Mediator, man. He is therefore frequently called the Son of man,
and in that nature he was always promised ; first to Eve, as her seed,
and consequently her son ; then to Abraham, ' In thy seed shall all the
nations of the eai'th be blessed,' and that ' seed is Christ,' and so is the
son of Abraham. Next io David, as his ' son to sit upon his throne,'
and so he is made of the ' seed of David according to the flesh ; the
son of David, the son of Abraham,' and consequently of the same nature
with David and Abraham ; and as he was their son, so are we his
brethren, as descending from the same father, Adam, and ' therefore it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.' For ' he laid not hold
on angek,' but on the seed of Abraham, and so became, not an angel,
but a man.
3. " As, then, man consisted of two parts, body and soid, so doth
Christ : he assumed a body at his conception, of the blessed virgin.
' Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself hkewise took part of the same.' The verity of his body stands
upon the truth of his nativity; and the actions and passions of his life
show the nature of his flesh. He was first born with a body prepared
for him of the same appearance with those of other infants ; he grew
up by degrees, and was so far from being sustained without the accus-
tomed nutrition of our bodies, that he was observed, even by his ene-
mies, to come eating and drinking ; and when lie did not so, he suffered
hunger and thirst. Those ploughers never doubted of die true nature
of his flesh, who ' ploughed upon his back, and made long furrows thei'e.'
The thorns which pricked his sacred temples, the nails which penetrated
tVirough his hands and feet, the spear which pierced his side, give suffi-
cient testimony of the natural tenderness and frailty of his flesh. And
lest his fasting forty days together, lest his walking on the water, and
traversing the seas, lest his sudden standing in the midst of his disciples,
when the doors were shut, should raise an opinion that his body was
not true and proper flesh, he confirmed first liis own disciples, ' Handle
me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.'
As, therefore, we believe the coming of Christ, so do we confess him to
have come in the verity of our human nature, even in true and proper
flesh. Thus it was always necessary to acknowledge him. ' For every
spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ come in the flesh, is of God ; and
every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ come in the flesh, is not
of God.' This spirit appeared early in opposition to the apostolical
doctrine, and Christ, who is both God and man, was as soon denied to
be man as God.
4. " And certainly if the Son of God would vouchsafe to take the frailty
of our flesh, he would not omit the nobler part, our soul, without which
he could not be man. ' For Jesus increased in wisdom and stature,'
one in respect of his body and the other of his soul. Wisdom be-
OF THK CATHOLIC FAITH. 477
Jongeth not to the flesh, nor can the knowledge of God, which is infinite,
increase : he, then, whose knowledge did improve, together with his
years, must have had a subject proper for it, which was no other than a
human soul. This was the seat of his finite understanding, and directed
will, distinct from the will ol" his Father, and consequently of his Divine
nature, as appeareth by that known submission, ' Not my will, but thine
be done.' This was the subject of those aflections and passions which
so manifestly appeared in him : nor spake he any other than a proper
language, when belorc his suffiMing he said, ' My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death.' This was it which, on the cross, before
the departure from the body, he recommended to the Father, teaching
us in whose hands. the souls of the faithful are. For ' when Jesus had
cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my
Spirit ; and having said tliis, he gave up the ghost.' And as his death
was nothing else but the separation of his soul from his body, so the life
of Christ, as man, did consist in the conjunction and vital union of that
soul with the body. So that he who was perfect God, was also ■perfect
man, of a reasonable soul, and huinan Jtcsh, subsisting."
5. Now this being allowed to be a truth, as it undoubtedly must, we
need not wonder if this human nature of Christ, consisting of body and
soul, and constituting as complete and proper a person as the human
nature of any man — we need not wonder, I say, if it should frequently
be represented in the Holy Scriptures as a complete and proper person,
and should speak and act as such : sureh' tliis is what one might rea-
sonably expect, notwithstanding its union with the "Word of the
Father." For though the union was such that he might properly be
termed " Emmanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh," yet the
two natures were preserved distmct, and the personahty of the man was
not destroyed.
6. " If both natures (says the last mentioned author) were not pre-
served complete and dfstinct in Christ, it must either be by the conver-
sion and transubstantiation of one into the other, or by the commixion
and confusion of both into one. But neither of these ways can consist
with the person of our Saviour, or the office of our Mediator : for if we
should conceive such a mlxion and confusion of substances as to make
a union of natures, we should be so far from acknowledging him to be
both God and man, that thereby we should profess him to be neither
God nor man, but a person of a nature as different from both as all
inixed bodies are distinct from each element, which concurs into their
composition. Beside, we loiow there were in Christ the aflections proper
unto the nature of man, and all those infirmities which belong to us, and
cannot be conceived to belong to that nature, [which is Di\ine, or,] of
which the Di\'ine is but a part.
7. " And as the confusion, so the conversion of natures is impossible : for,
first, we cannot, with the least show of probability, conceive tlie Divine na-
ture of Christ to be transiibstantiated into the human nature. There is a
plain repugnancy even in the supposition ; for the nature of man must be
made, the nature of God cannot Ix; made, and consequently cannot become
the nature of man. The immaterial, indivisible, and immortal Godhead,
cannot be divided into a spiritual and incorruptible soul, and a carnal and
corruptible bpdy ; of \\hich two, humanity consisteth. Secondly, we must
478 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
not, on the contrary, invent a conversion of the human nature into the
Divine, as the Eutychians of old did fancy : for sure the incarnation
could not at first consist in such a conversion, it being unimaginable how
that which had no being should be made by being turned into something
else. Therefore the humanity of Christ could not at first be made by
being the divinity of the Word : nor is the incarnation so preposterously
expressed, as if the flesh were made the Word ; but, ' the Word was
made flesh.' And if the manhood were not in the first act of incarna-
tion converted into the Divine nature, as we see it could not, then is
there no pretence of any time or manner in or by which it was after-
ward so transubstantiated.
8. " Vain, therefore, was that old conceit of Eutyches, who thought
the union to be made so in the natures, that the humanity was absorbed
and wholly turned into the divinity, so that by that transubstantiation the
human nature had no longer bemg. And well did the ancient fathers,
who opposed this heresy, make use of the sacramental union between
the bread and wine and the body and blood of Christ, and thereby
showed that the human nature of Christ is no more really converted
into the divinity, (and so ceaseth to be the human nature,) than the
substance of the bread and wine is really converted into the substance
of the body and blood of Christ, and thereby ceaseth to be both bread
and wine."
9. Now because these two natures of our Lord were preserved thus
distinct, therefore, as, in the preceding pages, we have frequently seen
the Divine nature represented as a complete and proper person, even
after its union with the human, without any reference to that union : so
we meet with the same in respect to the human nature : this is also
represented to our view as a complete and proper person, without any
reference to its union with the Divine : and, indeed, had it been other-
wise, we should have had reason to doubt of his manhood, as the over-
looking the important particulars, stated above, makes many doubt of
his Godhead.
10. Accordingly, in the sacred Scriptures we read the following, and
many more such hke passages : " I will put enmity between thee [the
serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. In thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed. The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren, like unto me ;
unto him shall ye hearken, according to all that thou dcsiredst of the
Lord thy God in Horeb, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the
Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God,
even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows. Thou art fairer than the children of men, grace is poured
upon thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever."
" A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Emmanuel : butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse
the evil, and choose the good. There shall come forth a rod out of the
stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots ; and the Spirit
of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 479
of Jehovah, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of
Jehovah, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither
reprove after the hearing of his ears : but witli righteousness shall he
judge the poor, and reprove with equity tor the meek of the earth."
" Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul
delighteth : 1 have put my Spirit upon him : he shall bring forth judg-
ment to the Gentiles : he shall not cry, nor hft up, nor cause his voice
to be heard in the street. Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye
people, from far; Jehovah hath called me from the womb, from the
bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name, and said unto
me. Thou art my servant, in whom I will be glorilied. Then said I, I
have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught ; yet surely
my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now,
saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bruig
Jacob again unto him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be.
glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And
he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldcst be my servant to raise up
the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Isi'ael : I will also
give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation
unto the ends of the earth. Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of
Israel and his Holy One, To him whom man despiseth, to him whom the
nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes
also shall worship, because of Jehovah that is faithful; and the Holy One
oi" Israel, and he shall choose thee.
" The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I
should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary ; he
wakeneth, morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the
learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair : I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be
confounded ; therefore have I set my face as a flint, and I Imow that I
shall not be conlbunded. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he
shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were
astonished at thee : (his visage was so marred more than any man,
and his form more than the sons of men :) so shall he sprinkle many
nations.
" He shall grow up before the Lord as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dr\- ground : he hath no form or comeliness ; and when ne shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and
we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afllicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities; he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not
his mouth ; he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
betbre her shearers is diunb, so he opened not his mouth. He was
taken from prison and from judgment ; was cut oft" out of the land ot
the living : tor the transgression of my people was he stricken ; and he
mevdc his grave with the wicked, and with the rich hi his death, (hough
480 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief; when thou
shalt make his soul an olferuig for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hands.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. I will divide
him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death ; Eind he was
numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.
" The Spirit of Jehovah Eloliim is upon me, because Jehovah hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to
bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound. Thus saith the Lord
God, I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even
my servant David ; he shall be their shepherd. I Jehovah will be their
God, and my servant David a prince among them. I Jehovah have
spoken it. He shall give them up until the time that she that travaileth
hath brought forth — and he shall stand and feed in the strength of the
Lord, in the majesty of the name of his God."
11. Our Lord and his apostles, in a great variety of passages in the
New Testament, illustrate and confirm these declarations of Moses and
the prophets, concerning the real and proper humanity of the Messiah.
A few of these I shall quote.
" The child grew and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom, and
the grace of God was upon him. Jesus increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favour with God and man. Jesus being full of the Holy
Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilder-
ness, being forty days tempted of the devil. Ye seek to kill me, a man
that have told you the truth which I have heard of God. Labour for the
meat which endureth mito eternal life, wliich the Son of man will give
you ; for him hatli God the Father sealed. I seek not mine o%vn \vill,
but the will of the Father which sent me. The works which the Father
hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me
that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself that hath sent
me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any
time, nor seen his shape. I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour
me. I seek not mine own glory. I have not spoken of myself, but the
Father which sent me gave me a commandment what 1 should say, and
Avhat I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life ever-
lasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto
me, so I speak.
" To sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it
shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my leather. If ye
loved me, ye would rejoice, because I sacy, I go to my Father, for my
Father is greater than L My Father who gave them me, is greater
than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hands.
Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before
my Father wliich is in heaven: but whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father wliich is in heaven. Of
that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, neither
the Son, but my Father only. All power is given unto me in heaven
OV THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 481
and on earth. I ascend lo my Fallicr iuid your Father, to my (iod and
your God. As my Father hath scat me, so send I you.
" God ojiveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. God anointed
Jesus of Nazaretli with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went
about doing good, and heahng all that were oppressed with the devil ;
for God was with him : whom they slew and hanged upon a tree, whom
God raised up the third day, and shuwcd him openly, — and who is
ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and
signs, which God did by him in the midst of you ; him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken,
and with wicked hands have crucilicd and slain, whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the bands of death. There is one God, and one
Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
liiniself a ransom for all. God hath appointed a day in which he will
judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained,
of which he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him
from the dead. He was verily fore-ordained before the foundation of
the world, but was manifested in these last times for you, who by him do
believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, luid gave him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God."
12. Now, as in these, and such like passages, which occur in a great
abundance throughout the Scriptures, the name Jehovah, God, or Father,
includes the whole Godhead, (not the Father as distinguished from his
Word and Spirit only as in 1 John v, 7, and Matt, xxviii, 19, but the
Word and Spirit also,) so, in them, the purely human nature of Christ
is chiefly spoken of, and held up to our view as a complete and proper
person, as truly dependent upon the Deity for knowledge and power,
hohness and happiness, as the human nature of any man. And, doubt-
less, this is a just representation of things : for this human nature of our
Lord, this body and soul of the holy Jesus, was properly a creature,
derived from, aiid dependent upon God, as all other creatures are.
Whatever knowledge he had, therefore, as man — whatever power,
purity, or comfort, it was communicated. And, it is probable these com-
munications were made, especially while he was yet a child, in a gradual
manner, viz. as his faculties opened and he was susceptible of them,
which accounts for his " increasing in wisdom," as well as in stature,
and " in favour with God and man," and " waxing strong in Spirit."
Nay, and it is manifest, that throughout his life his manhood could be
no farther conscious to or acquainted with the ideas of the divinity than
they were imparled, it being Jibsolutely impossible that any creature
should know the ideas of the Deity by immediate hituition as a man in
conscious of the thoughts of his own heart.
With the same propriety, therefore, wherewith Christ could speak of
hmiself things that referred to his body or animal nature only, and say,
" I am weary with my journey, I am hungiy, I thirst," he might also
affirm things which belonged only to his situl or rational nature, as, " My
soul is exceeding sorrowful, I rejoice in Spirit, I incrciise in wisdom, I
know not the day of judgment, I can do nolhing of myself." For these
things were as precisely and perfectly true as the other, and it was the
nianhood alone, without any lefercnce to the Godhead, that spoke them.
Vol. m. ' 31
482 A RATIOIS'AIi VIMJICATION
even as it was the Godhead alone, without any reference to the manhood,
(though by its lips,) which said, " Before Abraham was, I am. I am
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last."
13. Such proofs as these, of his true and proper humanity, we
might expect to meet with, and meeting with them accordingly, why
should we be staggered or surprised ? The Godhead, as we have seen,
was not converted into flesh, but only dwelt in it, and manifested himself
to mankind by it as far as he saw fit ; and the manhood, while on earth
at least, was not so taken up into God, as to be quite absorbed and lost
therein. Nay, this is not the case, now he is in heaven, but the " Lamb
in the midst of the throne" is still of a nature distinct from pure and
proper Deity, and knows not the secrets of the Divine counsels any
farther than they are communicated to him. Hence he is represented
as receiving the book containing these counsels from the right hand of
Him that sitteth on the throne, and hence we meet with that expression,
" The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him."
14. And yet, to signify that these two natures, though preserved com-
plete and distinct, were nevertheless most closely united in the person of
the Redeemer, we frequently, in the Scriptures, meet with what is termed
a communication of 'properties : viz. the one nature speaks things, or has
things spoken of it, which are only proper to the otlier nature. As for
instance. Acts xx, 28, we read, " The Church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood;" and 1 John iii, 16, " Hereby perceive
\vc the love of God, because he laid down his life for us ;" which is
speaking of the Divine nature things proper only of the human. And,
John iii, 13, we read, " No man hath ascended up into heaven but he
lliat came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven"
— which is affirmmg of the human nature, the Son of man, things that
could only be true of the Divine. For as God cannot die, and has no
blood to shed ; so the Son of man, the human nature, had not then been
m heaven, and much more, could not be there while on earth. Nay,
and our Lord, at one and the same time, and with one breath, often said
things proper to both his natures, as in the passage above quoted : " I
am tlie root and offspring of David," the root as God, and the ofl^jpiing
as man. Again : "I lay down my life for the sheep. I have power to
lay it down, and I have power to take it again." I lay down my life as
man : 1 have power to take it again as God.
15. Bishop Burnet speaks well on this subject. " What a person is
that results from a close conjunction of two natures, we can oidy judge
by considermg man, in whom there is a material and a spiritual nature
joined together. They ai-e two natures as different as any we can
:q»prehead among all created beings ; yet these make but one man. The
matter of which the body is composed, does not subsist by itself — is not
under all those laws of motion to which it would be subject, if it wejc
mere in'animated matter. But by the indwelling and actuation of the
soul, it has another spring within it, and another course of operations.
According to this, then, to subsist by another, is when a being is acting
according to its natural properties, but yet in a constant dependence
upon another being ; so our bodies subsist by the subsistence of our soids.
16. " This may help us to apprehend, how as the body is still a body,
Jihd operates as a body, though it subsist by l)ie indwelling and actuation
OF THE CATHOLIC TAITII. 483
of the soul ; so ill the person of Jesus Christ, the human nature was
entire, and still acted according to its own character. Yet there was
such a ruiion and inhabitation of the eternal Word in it, that there did
aiTse out of that a communication of names and characters, as we find
in the Scriptures. A man is called t/ill, fair, and healthy, from the state
of his body ; and learned, and iiise, and good, from the (jualilies of his
mind. So Christ is called hohj, harmless, and undejiled ; is said to ha\'e
died, risen, and ascended up into heaven, with relation to his human
nature. He is also said to be in the ' form of God,' to have ' created all
things,' to be ' the brightness of the Father's glory,' and ' the express
image of his person,' with relation to his Divine nature. The ideas that
we have of what is material, and what is spiritual, lead us to distinguish
in a nran those descriptions that belong to his body, from those that be-
long to his mind ; so the diiferent apprehensions that we have of what is
created and uncreated, nuist be our thread to guide us into the resolution
of those various expressions which occur in the Scriptures concerning
Christ.
17. " The design of the definition that was made by the Church, con-
cerning Christ's having one person, was chiefly to distinguish the nature
of the indwelhng of the Godhead in him from all prophetical inspira-
tions. The Mosaic degree of prophecy was, in many respects, superior
to that of the subsequent prophets; yet the difierence is stated between
Christ and Moses, in terms that import things of quite another nature :
the one being mentioned as the servant, the other as the Son that built
the house. It is not said that God appeared to Christ, or that he spoke
to him ; but God was ever with him, and in him ; and while the ' Word
was made flesh,' yet still ' liis glory was as the gloiy of the only begotten
Son of God.' The glory that Isaiah saw, was his glory ; and, on the
other hand, God is said to have purchased the Church with his own
blood. If Nestorius, in opposing this, meant only (as some think it ap-
pears by many citations out of him) that the blessed virgin was not to be
called simply the ' mother of God,' but ' the mother of him that was
God ;' and if that of makuig two persons in Christ was only fastened on
him as a consequence, we are not at all concerned in the matter of fact,
whether Nestorius was misunderstood and hardly used or not; but the
doctrine here asserted is plain in the Scriptures ; that though the human
nature of Christ acted still according to its proper character, and had a
peculiar will, yet there was such a constant presence, indwelling, and
actuation on it from the eternal Word, as did constitute both human and
Divine nature one person. As these are thus so entirely united, so they
are never to be separated. Clirist is now exalted to the liighest degrees
of gloiy and honour; and the characters of ' blessing, honour, and glory,'
are represented in St. John's vision, as offered ' unto the Lamb for ever
and ever.'" {Burnet on the Articles.)
CHAPTER XIII.
Some objections answered.
1. What has been .advanced in the last chapter upon the humanity
of Christ, will, I presume, if thoroughly considered, be found to contain
a sufiicient answer to most of the arguments brought to disprove hia
484 A R.\TIONAL VINDICATION
divinity. For ihcy seem, in general, to be built on a supposition, that
those who believe him to be God, either deny him to be man, or imagine
his manhood to have been absorbed by, or converted into his Godhead,
so us no longer to retain its proper nature, and possess an understanding
and will distinct from those of the Deity, Nay, some speak as if they
thought we believed the man, strictly speaking, to be God — the creature
to be the Creator. But none of these things is, m the least, supposed
or intended. We only believe and wish to establish such a union be-
tween this humanity of our Saviour and the Divine essence, through the
indwelling of the eternal Word of the Father, as will justify the conduct
of the apostles, in applying to Christ so many passages of the Old Tes-
tament, maniiestly uitended of the true God, will accoimt for his bearing
Divine names and titles, and having Divine perfections and works
ascribed to him, and will lay a proper foundation for that dependence
upon him as a Mediator and Redeemer, without which there is no sal-
vation ; and for that honour and worship, which, according to the Scrip-
tures, are his due.
2. But it will be objected by those who admit the prc-existence of
Christ, and yet deny his Godhead, that " what has been said concerning
his humanity does not come up to the point : that he uses a variety of
expressions concerning himself, even before his incarnation, which seem
incompatible with true and proper Deity ; such as — ' I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me : I pro-
ceeded forth, and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent
me : I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world : again
I leave the world, and go to the Father.'"
3. In answer to this, I obser\ e, first, we find expressions, similar to
these, used even of the Holy Ghost, whom the Unitarians themselves
allow, though not to be a proper person, yet to be truly Divine. Of
him Jesus uses the following language, " The Comforter, the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things," John xiv, 26. Again : " When the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth w hich pro-
ceedetli from the Father, he shall testify of me," John xv, 26. "And
again : " I tell you the truth : it is expedient for you that I go away ; for
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you : but if I depart,
I will send him unto you, and when he is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. When the Spirit of
truth is come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall not speali
of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak; and he
will show you thuigs to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive
of mine, and show it unto you : all tilings that the Father hath are mine ;
therefore said I, that he shall receive of mine, and show it unto you,"
John xvi, 7-13, 15. Now if these, and such like expressions, when
used of the Holy Spirit, do not imply that he is a created being, separate
from, and of a nature inferior to the Father, and even to the Son ; neither
do similar expressions, when used of the Word, necessarily imply that
he is a created being separate from, and of a nature inferior to the
Father. They may, indeed, imply tliat the Father is the principle both
of the Word and Spirit, the fountain (so to speak) from whence they
liuw — their source and original. And tliis is undoubtedly implioid in the
OF THE CATirOLir FAITH. 485
very names, Father, Son, Wont, Spirit, and is what the primitive Church
uniformly believed and taught. But as to any thing farther, we cannot
fairly infer it from such like expressions, which are manifestly accommo-
dated to our weakness, and must be understood in such a sense as not to
militate against other passages which speak so clearly of their divinity.
4. I observe, secondly, If expressions of this kind might be used of the
Holy Ghost, they may much more be used of the Logo.';, who, accord-
ing to the Scriptures, though the living Word of the Father, and a Son,
took upon him the form ol" a servant, l»eing made in the likeness of men.
Hence being Ssavi^pworocr, Gal-man, lie both has, and may have tilings pre-
dicated of him which, properly speaking, belong only to the human nature ;
nay, only to the inferior part thereof, viz. the body. And probably the
passages objected above, and others of a similar nature, are to be under-
stood either wholly of the human nature, or if of the Divine, of it only
because of its union with the human, in the same sense as when God is
said to " lay do^vn his life," or to " purchase the Church with his own
blood." Add to this, that this Word and Son of tlie Father, having con-
descended to become a servant, and having accordingly taken the form of
one, we need not wonder to find him acting in character, and not " doing
his own will," nor seeking " his own glory," but doing his will, and seek-
ing his glory, whose servant he undertook to be, in the work of man's
redemption.
5. I observe, thirdly, Tliough it seems to me that the most proper
name of our Lord before liis incarnation, (I mean tlie name most descrip-
tive of his nature,) is that given him by St. John in the beginning of his
Gospel, viz. 0 Xoyog-, the Word, or, as he is called, " The Word of God,"
Rev. xix, 13 ; yet it appears from what has been advanced in the former
part of this work, that he is also properly called " the Son of God."
Accordingly we read, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son. When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth liis
Son, made [man] of a woman : God sending his own Son in the like-
ness of sinful flesh : God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world : the Father sent the Son to bo the Saviour of the world." It
seems plainly implied in these, and such like passages, that he who was
*' given, sent forth, sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, sent into the
world," &:c, was previously God's Son. This is still morc manifest from
Heb. i, 2 : " God hath, in these last days, spoken mito us by his Son, by
whom he made the worlds." He was (iod's Son, therefore in his pre-
existent state, when God made the worlds by him. And there are divers
other texts, many of which have been quoted above, which speak a
similar language. He is indeed called the Son, even in the Old Testa-
ment, and that, it seems, without any reference to his future incarnation,
as by Agur, "What is his name, and what is his Son's name, if thou
canst tell ?" A question this which our Lord answers, when he says,
" No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man
the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him :"
which words our Lord surely did not speak of his human nature, as if
this were such an unsearchable mystery that no one could know it, but
of his Divine. Add to this, that it appears, by the passages quoted above
from Philo, that tlie .Tews were wont to call the Logos or Word the first
born and only begotten Son.
480 A ratioxaL vk^uication
C. Now if this languaf^o of our Lord liimself, and his inspired apos-
tles and proplif'ts, to whom he revealed liimself by his Spirit, be allowed
to be proper, tluiii, as Bisho[) Pearson argues, " wc rnay safely observe,
that, in the very name of Father, there is something above that of Son.
And some kind of priority or pre-eminence we must ascribe unto him
whom we call the first, in respect of him whom we tenn the second
person : and as we cannot but asci'ibe it, so we must endeavour to pre-
serve it." And " upon this priority or pre-eminence may safely be
grounded the congruity of the Divine mission. We often read that Christ
was sent, from whence he bears the name of an apostle himself, as well
as those whom he therefore named so, because as the Father sent him, so
he sent them. The Holy Ghost is also said to be sent, sometimes by the
Father, sometimes by the Son : but we never read that the Father was
sent at all, there being an authority in that name which seems incon-
sistent with this mission. In tlie parable, — ' A certain householder, who
planted a vineyard, first sent his servants to the husbandmen, and again
other servants ; but last of all he sent imto them his son.' It had been
inconsistent, even a\ ith the literal sense of an historical parable, as not at
all consonant to the rational customs of men, to have said, that last of all
the son sent his f ither to them. So God, placing man in the vineyard
of his Church, first sent his servants, the prophets, by whom ' he spake
at sundry times, and in divers manners ;' but ' in the last days, he sent
his Son.' And it were as incongruous and inconsistent with the Divine
generation, that the Son should send the Father into the world." The
Father, then, " is that ' God who sent forth his Son, made of a woman,'
that God, ' who hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, Abba, Father.' So the authority of sending is in the Father :
which, therefore, ought to be acknowledged, because upon this mission
is founded the highest testimony of his love to man ; for ' herein is love,'
saith St. John, ' not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.'
7. " Neither can we be thought to want a sufficient foundation for
this priority of the first person in tiie trinity, if we look upon the numerous
testimonies of the ancient doctors of the Church, who have not stuck to
call the Father the origin, the came, the author, the 7-oot, the fountain,
and the head of the Son."* "By which titles it clearly appeareth,
jirfit, that they made a considerable diflerence between the person of
tlie 'Father, of whom are all things,' and the person of the 'Son, by
whom are all things ;' and secondly, that the difference consisteth pro-
perly in this, — that as the branch is from the root, and river from the
Ibuntain, so the Son is from the Father, and not the Father from the
Son, as being what he is from none." Accordingly we find, " that the
name God, taken absolutely, is often in the Scriptures spoken of the
Fatlicr ; as when we read of 'God sending his own Son ;' of ' the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God ;' and, generally, where-
.soever Christ is called the ' Son of God,' or the ' Word of God,' the
name of God is to be taken particularly for the Father, because he is no
Son but of the leather. From hence he is stjied one God, the true
God, the ' only true God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ :'
■>
* Of this the bishop produces nurneroub ami indubitable testimonies in his
lioteu.
or THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 487
whicli, as it is most true, and so fit to bo believed, is also a most neces-
sary truth, and therefore to lie acknowledged, for the avoiding multipli-
city and pliu-ality of gods. For if there were more than one which were
from none, it could not be denied but there were more gods than one.
Wherefore this origination in the Divine paternity hath anciently been
looked upon as the assertion of the imity ; and therefore the Son and
Holy Ghost have been believed to be but one God with the Father, be-
cause both from the Father, who is one, and so the union of them."*
8. The B'ather, therefore, is the fountain of Deity, and of Divine
power : and hence it is, that as the gifts and operations of the Holy
Ghost are ascribed to him in Scripture, (because they really are his
gifts and operations, in and by the Holy Ghost, his own Spirit,) so, in
like manner, respecting the Word, the Son. His manifestations and
works are ascribed to the Father, because they really are the Fatlier's
works and manifestations, in and by tlie Logos, his own Word. If it be
asked, " How far are the Word and S[)irit distinct, and how do they
diflfer from the Father, and from each other ?" I answer, How far they
are distinct, and how they difl'er, is im])ossible for us fully to say, because
it is not told us. We only luiow that they are manifestly distinguished,
and have personal actions attributed to them in the Holy Scriptures ;
and that the Father is spoken of as the source and principle, both of the
Word and Spirit, and is represented as calling creatures into existence,
and revealing himself and his w-ill to the intelligent part of those crea-
tures by that Word, and communicating himself and his nature by that
Spirit. So that, as he is distinguished from them both, as the sun is
distinguished from his rays, and a fountain from its streams ; so they
are distinguished from each other, the Word chiefly appearing, and, as
the express image of the Father's person, externally revealing the Deity ;
and the Holy Ghost remaining invisible, and internally communicating
him. And, no doubt, there is in the nature of the Godhead a reason for
this, though we cannot compi'ehend it. We have, therefore, only one
Jehovah, one living and true God, manifesting himself and his will by
his Word, and communicating himself and his nature by his Spirit.
9. Hence we may put the question which the prophet puts, with as
much propriety as any Unitarian in the world, " To whom, then, will ye
liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto him ?" Or, in th^
language of the Lord himself, " To whom will ye liken me ? or shall I
be equal, saith the Holy One ?" And yet, with St. Paul and St. John,
we may answer. The Word that was in the beginning with God, and
was God, " being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God." For as Jehovah did not exclude, but comprehend his own
Spirit when he said, " To whom will ye hken me, or sliall I be equal ?"
so also he did not exclude, but comprehend his own Word. And when
we say God's Word and Spirit are equal to God, we do not mean to
separate them into two other gods, but only to signify that they are not
* I had made, and thouglit to have added here, farther extracts from Bisliop
Pearson, as well as a large one from Bishop Bull's Defence of the Nicene Faith
to the same purpose ; but as it would be little better than a repetition of what has
now been observed, I forbear to insert them. Bishop Bevcridge and Mr. William
Stephens, have considered the matter in the same light. And, of late, Dr.
Horsley, in his letters to Dr. Priestley, has observed that " tliree co-ordinate per-
sons would be manifest ly three gods."
488 A RATIONAL VIXWCATTON
creatures at an infinite distance from true Deity, but really Divine, par-
taking of tlic liatiire of that Godhead from which they proceed, and in
which they are comprehended.
10. 'I'lie Socinians and Arians, indeed, with a view to get rid of the
irrefrarraLle argument which tl)o text just referred to furnishes against
their scheme, would fain force a very diflcrent sense upon it, and trans-
late it, " Being in the form of God, he coveted not after, or did not
eagerly catch at an equality with God." But there are two insuperable
objections to this translation, (if it may be called one ;) the firsl is, tliat
the words will not bear it, 75yr,.rr/.7o f/.p*a7/j.ov, signifying not " lie coveted
not after," or "did not eagerly catch at," but simply and only, he thought
it not an act of robbery, or any usurpation of another's right ; and the
following words, sivwi irfa Ssw, meaning only — to be equal with God.
The second olijection to tliis forced translation is, that it would make the
npostle very absurdly represent it as a great instance of Christ's humility,
that he was not as proud as Lucifer ; who, (as is supposed,) though
highly exalted in the scale of being, yet being a mere creature, and, as
such, infinitely inferior to God, manifested insuflferable pride in eagerly
coveting and catching at an equality with God. Now, surely, if Christ
had been a mere creature, the apostle would never have mentioned it as
a great proof of his humility, that he did not, like Satan, aspire after an
equality with one infinitely above him!
11. We must, therefore, of necessity, abide by the gi'ammatical and
literal sense of the words above mentioned ; which we may do with the
greater satisfaction, having seen it confirmed, in the preceding chapters,
by so many tcsiimonics of the same apostle in other places, as well as
of other apostles and inspired writers. For surely he who appeared to
the patriarchs and prophets, at sundry times, in the character of God ;
he to whom the apostles, speaking by inspiration of (iod, applied many
passages of the Old Testament, containing proper descriptions of the
Most High ; he to whom Divine names and titles are given, and Divine
attributes are ascribed ; he who is represented as the immediate author
of all the Divine works, and who has been, is, and is to be worshipped
as God — he must be equal with God ; or, in other words, he must be
God, possessed of true and proper Deity, in union with the Father,
whose Word and only begotten Son he is, and from whom he never can
be separated.
12. "But if the Word and Son of God be really a Divine person,
how could he 'empty himself,' (which in this very text be is said to do,)
' leave the glory' he had with the Father, or ' become poor?'" See John
xvii, 3 ; 2 Cor. viii, 9. I answer, it is easy to conceive that he might
tlo this, as far as these texts signify that he hath done it. They do not
say that his nature underwent any change, that his wisdom, power, or
love, his holiness, truth, or justice, were either lost or lessened : they
only speak of his form or mode of manifestation. This passage in the
Epistle to the Philippians being much more particular, is plainly a key
to the other two ; and all that he asserts is, that (when in the " form of
God, and equal with God," the Godhead of the Father being his God-
liead,) he emptied himself, taking the " form of a servant, being made in
the likeness of men." So that the emptying of himself, which the
apostle speaks of, manifestly consisted in his taking the form of a eer-
OF THE CATirOLIC FAITH, 489
vant, which form he took when lie was made in the likeness of men.
It consisted in this, in that though he was the Word and Son of the
Father, who had spoke the universe into l)ehig, and had manifested him-
self to the patriarchs and |)rophets of old, as the Creator, Preserver, and
Lord of all, he now appeared in the form of a creature ; yea, of a mere
and mortal creatine, — a creature compassed ahout with infirmity, liable
to pain and misery, and subject to dissolution and decay ! And surely
this might very properly be teimed an emptying himself, a leaving his
glory, and becoming poor. For how great the contrast ! He had given
the law on Sinai, amidst ) bunder and lightnhig, storm and tempesi, earth-
quake and devouring fire : he had appeared in glory to the nobles of the
children of Israel, when there " was under his feet, as it were, a paved
work, of a sapphire stone, and, as it were, the body of heaven in its
clearness." Isaiah had seen him "upon a throne, high and lifted up,
when his train filled the temple, and the seraphim cried one to another.
Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts! the whole earth is fidl of his
glory !" And now that same Word and Son of the Father dwells in the
flesh ; in the meek and lowly Jesus, " a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, despised and rejected of men, having neither form nor come-
liness that we sliould desire him ;" whose greatest triumph was to ride
into Jerusalem upon a colt, the foal of an ass, amidst the acclamations
of children and a few poor people ; and wlio, at last, was executed upon
a cross, between two thieves, as a malefactor !
13. " It is a vain imagination (says the author last quoted) that our
Saviour then first appeared a servant, when he was apprehended, bound,
scourged, and crucified : for they were not all slaves who ever sufl<?red
such indignities, or di(!d that death ; and when they did, their death did
not make, but find them, or suppose them, servants. Beside, our
Saviour, in all the degrees of his liumiliation, never lived as a servant
unto any master on earth. It is true, at first ho was subject, but as a
son, to his reputed father and undoubted mother. When he appeared
in public, he lived after the manner of a prophet, and a doctor sent from
Cod, accompanied with a family, as it were, of his apostles, whose mas-
ter he professed himself, subject to the commands of no man in that
office, and olx;dient only unto God. The 'form, then, of a servant,'
which he took upon him, must consist in something distinct from his
sufferings or submission unto men, as the condition in wliich he was
when he so submitted and so sufiered. In tliat he was ' made flesh,'
sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, subject unto all the infirmities and
miseries of this life, attending on the sons of men, fallen by the sin of
Adam : in that he was ' made of a woman, made under the law,' and so
obliged to perform the same ; which law did so handle ihe children of
God, as that they diflered nothing from servants : in that he was born,
bred, and lived in a mean, low, and abject condition : ' as a root out of a
dry ground, he had no form nor comeliness ; and when men saw him,
there was no beauty that they should desire him ; but he was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: in
that he was thus made, man, he took upon him the form of a servant ;'
which is not mine but the apostle's explication ; as adding it, not by
way oi conjunction, in which there might be some diversity, but by way
o( apposition, which siguifieth a clear identify.
490 A RATIOXAL VIXDIC^VTION
14. " And, therefore, it is necessary to observe that our translation
of that verse is not only not exact, but very disadvantageous to that truth
which is contained in it : for we read it thus, " he made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men." Where we have two copulative conjunctions,
neither of which is in the original text, and three distinct propositions,
without any dependence of one upon another, whereas all the words to-
gether are but an expression of Christ's exinanition, with an explication
showing in what it consisteth ; which will clearly apjjcar by this literal
translation : " But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
made in the likeness of men." Where, if any man doubt how Christ
emptied himself, the text will satisfy him, " by taking the form of a ser-
vant :" if any still question how he took the form of a servant, he hath
the apostle's resolution, by being " made in the likeness of men." In-
deed, after the expression of this exinanition, he goes on with a con-
junction, to add another act of Christ's humiliation : " And being found
in fashion as a man," being already, by exinanition, in the form of a
servant, or the likeness of men, '• he humbled himself and became (or
rather becoming, yFvojxsvoc; ucttjxoo?) obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross."
15. " As, therefore, his humiliation consisted in his obedience unto
death, so his exinanition (or emptying himself) consisted in the assump-
tion of the form of a servant, and that in the nature of man. All which
is very fitly expressed by a strange interpretation in the Ejiistle to the
Hebrews. For whereas these words are clearly in the psalmist, " Sa-
crifice and ofTering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened,"
the apostle appropriateth the sentence to Christ, " When he cometh into
the world, he saith. Sacrifice and oficring thou wouldst not, but a body
hast thou prepared me." Now, since the boring of the ear, imder the
law, was a note of perpetual servitude ; since this was expressed in the
words of the psalm'ist, and changed by the apostle into the preparing of
a body, it followeth, that when Christ's body was first fi'amed, even then
did he assume the form of a servant."
16. As the bishop's reasoning upon this text is strong and conclusive,
and sufficiently refutes the Socinian interpretation, (which supposes that
Christ had no existence before he was born of the virgin, and that he
was no otherwise in the form of God than as working miracles,) I shall
transcribe a paragraph or two more : — " It appeareth out of the same
text that Christ was in the form of God before he was in the form of a
servant, and consequently before he was made man. For he who is
presupposed to be, and to think of that being which he hath, and upon
that thought to assume, must have that being before that assumption ;
but Christ is expressly said to be in the form of God, and being so, to
think it no robbery to be equal with God, and, notwithstanding that
equality, to take upon him the form of a servant : therefore it cannot be
denied but he was before in the form of God. Beside, he was not in the
form of a servant but by emptying himself, and all exinanition necessarily
pi-esupposeth a precedent plenitude ; it being as impossible to empty any
thing which hath no fulness, as to fill any thh)g which hath no emptiness.
But the fulness which Christ had, in respect whereof, assuming the
form of a servant, he is said to empty himself, could bo in nothing else
OF THT CATHOLIC FAITH. 491
but the form of God in which lie was before. Wherefore, if tlie assump-
tion of the form of a servant be cotemporary with his exinanition, if that
exinanition necessarily presnpposeth a plenitude as indispensably ante-
cedent to it ; if the form of (jod be also coeval with that precedenf pleni-
tude ; then must we confess Christ was in the form of God before he
was in the form of a seiTant.
17. "Again: it is as evident from the same scripture, that Christ was
as much in the form of (lod as in the form of a servant, and did as
really subsist in the Divine nature as in the nature of man. For he was
so in the form of God, as thereby to be ' equal with God.'* But no
other form beside the essential, which is the Divine nature itself, could
infer an equality with God. ' To whom will you liken me, and make
me equal, saith the Holy One ?' There can be but one uifinite, eternal,
and independent Being ; and there can be no comparison between that
and whatsoever is finite, temporal, and depending. He, therefore, who
did truly think himself equal with God, as being in the form of God, must
be conceived to subsist in that one infinite, eternal, and independent na-
ture of God. Again : the phrase, ' in the form of God,' not elsewhere
mentioned, is used by the aposflc with a respect unto that other, the
' form of a servant,' exegetically [explanatorily] continued ' in the
likeness of men ;' and the respect of one unto the other is so necessary,
that if the ' form of God' be not real and essential as the 'form of a
servant,' or the lilvcness of man, there is no force in the aposlle's words,
nor will his argument be lit to prove any great d(!gree of humiliation
upon the consideration of Christ's exinanition. But by the form is cer-
taiidy miderstood the true condition of a servant, and by the likeness
itdallibly meant the real nature of man, nor doth the fiishion in which
he was found destroy, but rather assert, the truth of his humanity. And,
therefore, as sure as Christ was really and essentially man, of the same
nature with us, in whose similitude he was made, so certainly was he
also really and essentially God, of the same nature and being with him,
in whose form he did subsist. Seeing then we have clearly evinced,
from the cxpi'ess words of St. Paul, that Christ was in the form of a
servant as soon as he was made man, that he was in the form of God
before he was in (he form of a servant, that the form of God in which
he subsisted doth as truly signify the Divine as the likeness of man the
human nature ; it necessarily followeth that Christ had a real existence
before he was begotten of the virgin, and that (he being which he had
was the Divine essence, by which he was tndy, really, and properly
God." (PearsiM mi the Creed, pp. 122, 123.)
CHAPTER XIV.
The vise of this doctrine.
And now, having proved our Lord's divinity, and answered (I hope)
the most material objections that are made to it, \ shall close this treatise
when I have added a few words respecting the use of this doctrine.
* To ctvai wa Gtiu. Pariari Den, Terlull. EssRe sc (equalem Deo, Cypr. Esse
aqualis Deo, Lfporius. Tlius all express the notions of equality, not ofsiniilitude ;
nor can we understand any loss by to civat laa, than rtjv laorriTu' laov and laa being
indifferently used by the Creek.
492 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
1. And its use appears, first, m tliat it is closely connected with all
the offices, wliich, according to the Scriptures, Christ sustains, and, in
the execution ol" vvJiich, he Is our Saviour and Redeemer. It is closely
connected, even with his office of a prophet. " This is my beloved Son
(says the Father) hear ye him." In order that we may hear him witii
becoming reverence, entire confidence, and x'eady obedience, it is neces-
sary that we should regard him as the Is-ither's " beloved Son ;" and
that in a higher sense than any propliet, or apostle, or angel, ever was,
or can be — his Son : a Son in whom it hath pleased the Father that all
fulness should dwell : yea, all the fuhiess of the (Todhead bodily. Hence,
as we have seen, he is the very Word of the Father, and what he speaks,
the eternal truth, wisdom, and love of God speaks in him. He is the
Divine Oracle, and all he says is as important and infallible as what was
uttered of old from between the cherubim, upon the mercy seat ; and
should be received with as much implicit faith, and dutiful submission,
as the high priest, or people of Israel of old, received answers from that
most holy i)lace.
2. It is true, what was delivered by Moses and the prophets, by the
evangelists and apostles, is also the word of God ; for " prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost :" but not in so high a sense as
what was spoken by Christ. When God spoke by them, he spoke by
his servants ; when he spoke by Christ, he spoke by his Son. They had
the Spirit "by measure," he "without measure." They deliver his
truths and declare his laws ; he is the truth itself, and the lawgiver
among his people. They come to us with authority from another, and
say, " Thus saith the Lord." He speaks as one having authority in
himself, and his language is, " I say unto you."
3. And if the doctrine of the proper and peculiar Sonship of Christ
be closely connected with his prophetic office, it has still a closer con-
nection with the office of a priest. We have already seen that the
virtue of his atonement depends upon it, and that, if he had been but a
mere man, or a mere creature, his single and temporal life could not
have been a ransom, or " redemption price," for the innumerable and
eternal lives of all men. And with regard to his appearing in the
presence of God for us, as our Advocate and Intercessor, let those who
deny his divinity inform us how we are to obtain access to him, that we
may acquaint him with our wants and griefs, and put our cause into his
hands? Or how we are to be assured that he knows, and therefore is
touched with the feelings of our infirmities, so that he does and will
sympathize with us, and afford us grace to help in time of need?
4. Nay, and even as to his kingly office, — what sort of a king would
he be, who could neither know liis subjects, nor deUver, nor protect, nor
govern them ? Iloi/xsva Xawu, " The shepherd of his people," is a com-
mon phrase with a heathen poet, when speaking of a heathen king.
All good kings, whether heathen or Christian, are the shepherds of the
people, and, as such, watch over, protect, and govern them. It is true,
this can only be done very imperfectly by men, as men are very imper-
fect in knowledge, and power, and goodness. But the King whom God
hafh set upon his holy hill of Zion, is the " good Shepherd," who "gave
his life for the sheep," and who says, " I know m}' sheep, and nm known
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 493
of mine ;" and again, " M v shoop hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow nie, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck
them out of my hand. He comes with a strong hand, and his arm rules
for him : he feeds his flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs with his
arm, carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with
young."
5. As a King, he reigns iti, as well as over his subjects, subdues their
lusts and passions, casts down their imaginations, and even brings into
captivity their thoughts to the obedience of himself. He "dwells in their
hearts by faith;" is " in them their hope of glory;" and his Idngdom
of "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Chost," being set up
in their hearts, is to them, at once, a preparation for, and a pledge
of his kingdom of glory. Now all these particulars suppose his
divinity ; supj)ose him to be omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent ;
possessed of boundless wisdom, power, and love, and every Divine
perfection.
6. Add to this, secondly, that the Holy Ghost, speaking by David,
connects our worshipping of him with his sustaining this office of a
king : " He is thy Lord, and worship thou him." And we have seen, in
a former chapter, how certainly it is our duty to comply with this
Divine injunction. Herein, then, especially appears the use of this doc-
trine concerning the divinity of Christ — that while we worship him,
(which we are in duty bound to do,) we may know, and be persuaded,
we are not guilty of idolatry, in worshipping a mere creature. *' We
are commanded to 'fear the Lord our God, and serve him,' and that
with such cui emphasis, as by him we are to understand him alone, be-
cause the ' Lord our God is one Lord.' From whence, if any one arose
among the .Jews, teaching, under the title of a prophet, to worship any
other beside him for God, the judgment of the rabbins was, that not-
withstanding all the miracles which he could work, though they were as
great as Moses wrought, he ought immediately to be strangled; because
the evidence of this truth, that one God only must be worshi[)ped, is above
all evidence of sense. Nor must we look upon this precept as valid only
under the law, as if, then, there were only one God to be worshipped,
but since the Gospel we had another ; for our Saviour hath commended
it to our observation, by making use of it against the devil in his tempta-
tion, saying, ' Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written. Thou shall worship
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' If, then, we be
obliged to worship the God of Israel only ; if we be also commanded to
give the same worship to the Son, which we give to him, it is necessary
we should believe that the Son is the God of Israel. When the Scripture
' bringeth in the first begotten into the world, it sailh, Let all the angels
of CJod worship him ;' but then the same Scripture calleth that ' first
begotten Jehovah, and the Lord of the whole earth,' Heb. i, 6, and
Psa. xcvii, 6, 7. For a man to worship that for God which is not God,
thinking that it is God, is, although not in the same degree, yet the same
sin. To worship him as God, who is God, thinking that he is not God,
cannot be thought an act, in the formality of it, void of idolatry, l^est,
therefore, while we are obliged to give unto him Divine worship, we
shall fall into that sin, which, of all others, we ought most to abhor, it is
necessary we should believe that Son to be, (in union with his Father,)
494 A RATION.U. VINDICATION
that eternal CJod, vvhoiii wc are bound to worship, and whom only we
should serve."
7. Thirdli/, our belief of this doctrine is necessary " to raise us to a
thankful acknowledgment of the infinite love of God, appearing in the
sending of his only begotten Son into the world to die for sinners. The
love of God is frequently extolled and admired by the apostles. ' God
so loved the world,' saith St. John, ' that he gave his only begotten Son.'
' God commendeth his love toward us,' saith St. Paul, * in that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us ; in that he spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up (or us all.' ' In this,' saith St. .John again, ' was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that wc might live through him. Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, antl sent his Son to
be the proi)i(iation for our sins.' If wc look upon all this as nothing else
but tiiat God sliould cause a man to be born, after another rnamier than
other men, and when he was so born, after a peculiar manner, yet a
mortal man, should deliver him to die for tlie sins of the world, I see no
such great expression of his love, in this way of redemption, more than
would have appeared in any other way.
8. " It is true, indeed, that the reparation of lapsed man is no act of
absolute necessity, in respect of God, but that he hath as freely designed
our redemption, as our creation : and, considering the misery from wluch
we are redeemed, and the happiness to which we are invited, wc cannot
but acknowledge the singular love of God, even in the act of redemption
itself. But yet the apostles have raised that consideration higher, and
placed the choicest mark of the love of God, in the' choosing such means,
and performing in that manner our reparation ; by sending his ' oidy
begotten Son into the world ;' by ' not spai'ing his own Son ;' by giving
and delivering him up to be scourged and crucified for us. And the
estimation of this act of God's love must necessarily increase proportion-
ably to the dignity of the Son so sent into the world ; because the more
worthy the person of Christ was before he suffered, the greater was his
condescension to such a suffering condition ; and the nearer his relation
to the Father, the greater his love to us, for whose sakes he sent him so
lo suffer. Wheref<Drc to derogate any way from the person and nature
of our Saviour, before he suflcred, is so far to undervalue the love of
God, and consequently to come short of that acknowledgment and
thanksgiving which is due unto him for it." (Pearson on the Creeds
pp. 143, 144.)
9. Let me illustrate this in the words of a translation of Abbadie :
"In the deliverance of the ancient Israelites from Egyptian bondage,
two things may be remarked. God redeems them from the slavery under
which they groaned ; and previous to their deliverance, he commands
them to kill the paschal lamb, and to sprinkle its blood on the door posts
of their houses. The love of God to the tribes of Jacob, in granting them
deliverance, is greatly to be admired ; f()r they were reduced to a sad
extremity, and had long desired to be relieved. But we should think
ourselves much abused, if any one endeavoured to persuade us, that the
love of God to them a[)i)earcd in a wonderful manner, because the blood
ol' a lamb was the sign to the destroying nngcl to spare their first born,
ur because the sacrifice of the passover was a mean, in the hand ol"
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 495
God, of working out their deliverance. Should any one exclaim, ' Be-
hold, how God loved the Israelites ! He loved them so that he put a
lamb, nay, many lambs to death, that he might redeem Ihem from slavery !'
woidd you not think him dehrious ?
10. "But here I shall be reminded, ' Tliat the hfe of Christ, as a
mere man, is incomparably more precious than the life of a sacrifice
under the law.' Suppose it be; yet as (he life of a lamb bears no j>ro-
portioji to the temporal deliverance of the Israelites, the temporal life of
Jesus, as a mere man, or a mere creature, can bear no proportion to the
eternal life of mankind. Nay, in tlie former of these two cases there is
some proportion, and a comparison niay be fi>rmod; but none at all in
the latter. For as the hfe of a lamb is temporal, so was the life of an
Israelite, which was redeemed by it ; and it nuist be allowed, that,
between temporal and tenn)oral, there is some prf)portion. But the life
of Christ, as a mere creature, is temporal and of a limiled worth;
whereas, the life he purchased for us is eternal, and of infinite value;
between which there is, there can be no proportion." To dwell a little
longer upon tins : —
11. "The love of God appears, it may be said, not in giving a man,
simply considered, but in giving one, that is, his own Son. But is Jesus
the Son of God in a proper, or in a figurative sense? If only in the latter,
I desire to be informed, whether it be an extraordinary and an astonish-
ing effort of Divine love, to give a man for our redemption, who is the
Son of God only by a metaphor? Suppose a sovereign were obhged to
destroy a great number of his subjects, to assert the rights of justice, and
maintain the honour of his laws, except some person were found worthy
of being admitted as their substitute, who, by laying down his life, should
deliver them from death. Suppose, farther, this prince, being moved
with compassion, should engage to give the life of his own son for their
redemption ; you could not but conceive the higliest idea of his mercy
and love to his offending subjects. But if, afterward, you should be well
inibrmed, that he did not give his own son, and be also assured, that,
properly speakuig, he never had a son of his own ; but that all the
mystery of this astonishing love, which made such a noise in the world,
consisted in this, — he adopted one of his subjects ; took him out of a
state of extreme indigence ; educated him like the son of a prince ;
determined to give him up to death, as a ransom for his perishing sub-
jects; and then, if it were possible, to reward his sufferings by making
him the heir of his crown : in such a case it would be immediately said,
Though the conduct of this prince is very extraordinary, and though his
clemency is worthy of admiration, in pardoning attainted rebels, and in
redeeming those who deserved to [)erish ; \'ct it is a childish hy{)er!)ole
to exclaim, 'Behold, how he loved his kingdom ! He so loved it, (hat he
gave his son, his own son, his dearly beloved, and only begotten son, to
die for his offending subjects !'
12. " Still more to illustrate the point, we may borrow an instance
from the sacred Scriptures. The offering up of Isaac, it is allowed, was
a (ype of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Isaac, the delight of his father,
and his only son, w.'ls bound in order to be sacrificed by Abraham him-
sell', notwithstanding all the yearnings of parental bowels. Thus he
became a hvel} type of Christ, ofiiini, wiio is flic only Vjegottcn of the
496 A RATIONAL VINDICATION
FaOier, and in vvliom he takes infinite and eternal delight. As Abraham
offered up his only son, so the Divine Father delivered up to death his
only begotten Son. Suppose, then, any one were to persuade and con-
vince you, that Abraham did not offer up his only son, nor his own son,
but that he took the son of Eliezer, gave him the name of Isaac, and, if
you will, put on him the clothes of Isaac ; you would immediately for-
bear to wonder at the obedience and faith of the renowned patriarch, in
making no scrui)Ie to sacrifice his own and only son. We have been
wont to look for the image only, in a type, and for the reality in its
accomplishment ; but, if we believe our adversaries, we must look for
the reality in the type, and the image in its accomplishment. According
to this new mode of interpretation, Abraham performed a great and
wonderful act of obedience, by which his faith in the promises, and his
love to God, have been rendered illustrious to all generations ; for he
offered up his own son, his dear and only son, and this he did in reaUty,
not in appearance only. But God, in delivering up Jesus to death, gives
us only a servant, wliom he calls his Son, that there might be a greater
appearance of love in his dying for us."
13. "If, then, (as Bishop Pearson adds,) the sending of Christ into
the world be the highest act of the love of God which could be expressed;
if we be obhged unto a return of thankfulness, some way correspondent
to such infinite love ; if such a return can never be made without a true
sense of that infinity, and a sense of that infinity of love cannot consist
without an apprehension of an infinite dignity of nature in the person
sent ; then it is absolutely necessary to believe that Christ is so the
' only begotten Son' of the Father, as to be of the same substance with
him, of glory equal, of majesty coeternal."
14. A fourth use of this doctrine, and the last I shall mention, is to
convince us, that (as our poet says)
No man too largely from heaven's love can hope.
If, what he hopes, he labours to secure.
For, as the apostle argues : " He that spared not his own Son, but freely
delivered him up ujito death for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things ?" But then this implies that Christ was more
than a mere man, or mere creature : for, " would it be logical, would it
be rational, thus to argue ? If God, in his great love, delivered up one
more man, or mere creature, to death, we may safely conclude he will
deliver millions from it. If he delivered up one to temporal sufferings,
he will certainly deliver vast multitudes from eternal torments : if he
gave a person infinitely inferior to himself, to endure the pains of cruci-
fixion for us ; he will undoubtedly grant us the enjoyment of himself, to
make us completely and everlastmgly happy. How different the apostle's
m;uiner of arguing in this passage ! Whoever duly considers how ho
speaks of God's own Son, of us all, and of all things, camiot but observe
he supposes it quite evident, that there is no proportion lietween Jesus
Christ and all the redeemed, though taken collectively; nor between the
gift of him and the grant of all other blessings. But such a way of
fri|)eaking is absolutely unaccountable, is highly absurd, on the hypothesis
opposed :" but, on our principles, God's " not spanng his own Son, but
freely delivering liim up unto death for us all," gives us the highest
OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 497
assurance that he will peiform all his gracious promises, aiicl " freely
give us all things." For he that has done us the greater favour, will
surely do us the less : he that hath given us such a gift as his own Son,
a gift, according to our doctrine, infinite m value, will surely give us
every other inferior blessing ; especially considering that his Son was
given for this very end ; that atonement being made for sin, and all the
demands of justice being satisfied, Divine mercy and love might have
free course, and God, in a way consistent with his attributes, might
bestow upon us all blessings — temporal, spiritual, and eternal.
Vol. III. 32
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL:
OR,
THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLES VINDICATED
FROM THE CHARGE OF HOLDING
THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S MERE HUMANITY :
BEING
THE SECOND PART
OF
A VINDICATION OF HIS DIVINITY;
INSCRIBED
TO THE REV, DR. PRIESTLEY,
BY THE LATE REV. JOHN FLETCHER,
VICAR OF MADELEY, SALOP.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
I?f A LARGE DETAIL OF INSTANCES,
A DEMONSTRATION OF THE V^^ANT OF COMMON SENSE
IN THE
NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS,
ON THE SUPPOSITION OF THEIR /
BELIETV'INO AND TEACHING THE ABOVE-MENTIONED DOCTRINE.
IN A SERIES OF LETTERS,
TO THE LATE REV. JOHN WESLEY,
BY JOSRPH BENSON.
If any man Kjxak. Id him speak as the oraclea ol'God.
PREFACE.
The reader will easily observe, lliat the following letters, by the late
Rev. Mr. Fletcher, are almost all unfinished, and are here presented to the
public in an imperfect state. It is much to be regretted, especially, that
the last of them, on the Epistles of St. Paul, is so incomplete, as only two
of these epistles had been considered ; and very many passages of great
importance upon this subject, and such as afford incontestable proof
of our Lord's divinity, are to be found in those that ho hnd not examined.
It is true, many of these passages have been introduced in the former
part of this work, and have been there improved, in some measure, in
defence of that important doctrine ; yet still, as this was not done by the
masterly pen of Mr. Fletcher, the friends of our Lord's divinity cannot
but consider it as a loss to the Church of Christ, and therefore as an
afflictive providence, that this able and pleasing writer was not spared
to finish his work, and fully rescue the apostle of the Gentiles, as he
has done the other apostles, out of the hands of those who so miserably
mangle his writings, and cast so great a stain upon his character.
St. Paul has for many ages been looked up to with respect as an
apostle, as a Christian, as a scholar, and as a man of genius. But this
new Socinian doctrine, still more adventurous than the old, dares to strip
him of his honour in all these respects. It degrades hiin as an apostle,
for it denies that he wrote by inspiration ; as a Christian, for it makes
him an idolater, and an encourager of idolatry ; as a scholar, for it
affirms that he reasons inconclusively ; and as a man of genius and
parts, for, if it is to be credited, he had not even common sense, or at
least did not write as if he had.
This last particular, which, as far as I know, has not yet been touched
upon in the present controversy between Dr. Priestley and his antago-
nists, I have attempted to set in a clear point of view, in some letters
which I have annexed to those of Mr. Fletcher. I thought that, in
doing this, I should perhaps render a more essential service to the cause
of truth, than if, endeavouring to follow Mr. Fletcher's plan, and prose-
cute the subject in his method, I should make such additions to his
letters as would be necessary to render them in some degree complete.
Indeed, I had two reasons for declining this. The first was, that the
former part, already published, being enlarged beyond what Mr. Fletcher
had intended, hod in some measure precluded the necessity of this
second part. For instead of being, as he plainly meant it, merely a
Kalioml Vindication of the Catholic Faith, respecting the trinity and the
502 PREFACE.
divinity of our Lord, it now assumes another form, and rather appears
as a Scriptural vindication of these doctrines. The other was, I knew
my inabiHty to treat the subject in his masterly manner, and that at best
it would seem a very heterogeneous composition. I concluded therefore
to let these letters go abroad in their unfinished state, as the imperfect
and posthumous works of a great and good man, who hardly ever
dropped a word from his lips, or a sentence from his pen, but what was
one way or other calculated to do good.
What Dr. Priestley will think of these unfinished letters, should he
condescend to cast his eye over them, is easy to see, after the judgment
he has passed upon the deservedly celebrated writings of Dr. Horsley,
now Lord Bishop of St. David's. "We consider (says he, p. 1 of
his last letters to his lordship) your publications in this controversy, as
contributing, in an eminent manner, to the propagation of that great
truth for which we think it glorious to contend, and which you oppose."
And again, p. 2, " Had I been permitted to choose my own antago-
nist, by exposing of whose arguments and manner of conducting the
controversy I might avail myself the most, I should certainly have made
djoice of your lordship. After seeing your first set of letters to me, I
said to several of my friends, that if I could have dictated the whole of
your performance myself, it should have been just what I found it to be :
your arguments were so extremely futile, and your manner of urguig
tliem giving me even more advantage than I wanted or wished for."
If even the arguments of Dr. Ilorsley, the force of which has been felt
and acknowledged so universally, have made no impression upon the
mind of the doctor, what can be expected from these publications?
Surely, should he condescend to honour them with his notice, (a favour
Avhich, however, is not to be expected,) in one half hour he might
demonstrate their futility : and were not the opponents of too little note
to afford the doctor much honour in the conquest, we might again hear
him proclaiming his victory in terms similar to those he uses when,
p. 4, he assures his lordship, in great triimiph, that " he [the bishop]
has been completely foiled in all liis attempts to discover any error [in
the doctor's writings] of the least consequence to his main argument."
And many, no doubt, would take the doctor's word for it, and save them-
selves the expense of pui'chasing, and trouble of reading a book, the
authors of which had been so " completely foiled" in tlie whole of their
argumentation ! It will remain a truth, however, when Dr. Piiestley
and his publications are no more, that " not he that commendeth himself
is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."
As to the Scriptures, arguments drawn from that source can have but
little weight with the doctor. " You think it extraordinary (says he to
the Rev. James Barnard, p. 83,) that I should have recourse to such
guides as the fathers, to settle my opinion concerning the doctrine of the
PREFACE. 503
trinity, thinking, I suppose, that the study of the Scriptures might render
all other helps unnecessaiy. Now, I have more than once given my
reason for this conduct. It is in short this : Christians are not agreed
in the interpretation of Scripture language ; but as all men are agreed
with respect to the nature of historical evidence, I thought that we might
perhaps better determine by history what was the faith of Cliristians in
early times, independently of any aid from the Scriptures : and it ap-
peared to be no unnatural presumption, that whatever that should appear
to be, such was the doctrine of the apostles, from whom their faith was
derived ; and that by this means we should be possessed of a pretty good
guide for discovering the true sense of Scrij)ture."
It appears, therefore, that in the doctor's opinion, tliough the apostles
exhort us to " strive together for the faith of the Gospel," and to " contend
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints ;" and though they
wrote many epistles designedly to tell us what that faith was ; yet that
these epistles are so unintelligible, that if we wish for information con-
cerning this faith, we must not have recourse to them, though written in
a language perfectly understood, but to the histories and other writings
of persons who lived some centuries after them ! According to this
hypothesis, if, some ages hence, any one should be wishful to know what
the faith of that great philosopher and divine, Dr. Priestley, was, he
must not apply to tlie doctor's own writings for information, though those
writings shoidd happen to be extant, and should be preserved entire, but
must recur to histories of England, memoirs of the lives and writings of
eminent men, and other books composed and published some ages after
the doctor's death, and by men, perhaps, either ill informed on the one
hand, or prejudiced on the other ! According to the same plan, the
faith of the old Puritans might be learned from the books of the present
Presbyterians, that is, the Socinians, their successors ; and the faith of
our reformers from the sermons and other publications of the present
clergy of the Church of England ! On the same principle, too, it may
be learned from some future Socinian historian, how the bishop of St.
David's managed the controversy with Dr. Priestley, and how just and
Scriptural his lordship's sentiments were on the important subject debated
between them.
I would not be understood as insinuating here, either that the ancient
fathers of the Church, or the members of it in general, in the first ages,
departed from the faith held by the apostles and first Christians. I am
persuaded they did not, and that their holding the doctrine contended
for in these sheets, is capable of as clear and satisfactory proof as any
subject of history whatever. But be this as it may, it appears to me
that any man's foith is best learned from those discourses and writings
of his own, in which he professedly declares that faith ; unless, indeed,
on the one hand there be reason to question his sincerity, or on the other
504 PREFACE.
to suppose him deficient in common sense, or at least in ability to make
himself understood. Accordingly, I think, without intending to detract
at all from the character or writings of those holy and eminent men,
the ancient fathers, that the faith of the apostles is best learned from
what they tliemselves have delivered concerning it. And Dr. Priestley
may use what arguments he pleases, I am satisfied he never will be able
to convince any of the contrary, but those whom he has first persuaded
that these sacred penmen were deficient in integrity or in understanding,
that they either would not or could not give a just and intelligible account
of their sentiments.
The doctor has already carried his researches very far, not only in
philosophy, but also in divinity : he has greatly outstripped all his pre-
decessors. In philosophy he has discovered, to the utter confusion of
the wisdom of former ages, that man has no soul, no rational and im-
mortal spirit ; that he is a mere })iece oi" organized matter, and that ot
consequence all his motions are purely mechanical ; all his tempers,
words, and works, previously fixed, necessary, and unavoidable ; a doc-
trine this, published by him to the world some years ago, and still openly
avowed, as appears by his late letters to the Rev. John Hawkins, in
which he declares himself to be " professedly a Unitarian, a Necessarian,
and a Materialist." In divinity he has not only adopted and confirmed
the discoveries (or tenets, as I should rather call them) of Socinus, re-
specting the mere humanity of Christ, with all the train of consequences
which that doctrme draws after it; but he questions the authenticity of
the account, given in the beginning of the Gospels of St. Matthew and
St. Luke, respecting the miraculous conception of the child Jesus. Of
course he has inferred tliat Jesus Christ, sent indeed of Cod, and a great
prophet, yet was weak, fallible, and peccable, Idve other men : that, as
to tiie evangelists and apostles, whatever might be the case with them as
speakers, concerning which, I think, he has not pronounced positively,
yet that, as writers, they certainly were not inspired : that as to St. Paul,
in particular, he often reasons very inconclusively, and both misunder-
stands and misapplies sundry passages quoted from the Old Testament.
But it will be impossible for the doctor to stop here. He must of
necessity either advance farther, or come quite back. As to philosophy,
indeed, the philosophy, I mean, that concerns the nature of man, he
seems to be arrived at the ne plus idtra. It being a plain, undeniable
fact, that we do move, it would be in vain to endeavour to persuade us
that we do not. All that can possibly be done in this case is, what he
has eflTectcd long ago, that is, to prove that we move mechanically. But
in dwiniiy; — imless, as I hinted, he should think proper to make a retreat,
and return into the paths of orthodoxy, which, at his time of lile, and
after the attention and admiration he has excited for a number of years
by the singularity of his discoveries, he is well aware he could wA do
PREFACE. 505
with credit to lum>5elf ; — in divinity, I say, he must go mucli farther.
Added to wliat he has demonstrated respecting St. Paul's reasoning
inconclusively, and all the apostles and evangelists writing withoiit
inspiration, he must make it evident that they all in general, and St.
Paul in particular, wrote without common sense. This, on the one
nand, would be perfecting his work, and would for ever free him, and
all other great and learned philosophers and divines, from what has long
been found to be a prodigious clog upon the feet of those who are in
haste to make discoveries, I mean that obsolete book, the Bible. And,
on the other, it will be found absolutely necessary to gain credit to the
discoveries already made, and especially to procure tiiem a firm and
lasting establishment. And then neither the doctor, nor any of his bre-
thren of the school of Socinus, need give themselves any farther trouble,
in fruitless endeavours to reconcile their sentiments with the antiquated
doctrines taught by St. Paul, St. John, or any other of the New Testa-
ment writers, any more than they would to reconcile them with the
reveries of a madman, or the dreams of an enthusiast.
As a specimen of what might be done in this way, and because it is
reasonable to think that the doctor has not time, in the midst of his many
and severe studies, and voluminous publications, to search the Scriptures
for the examples which seem necessary to be produced in proof of so
important a point, I have taken the pains to look over the New Testa-
ment, and especially the Epistles of St. Paul, and have put down many
instances of this kind. 1 will not say they are all of them the most
remarkable that could be found, but they are such as struck me most in
the perusal, and I here take the liberty of presenting them to the public,
along with these unfinished letters of the Rev. Mr. Fletcher. Whether
I shall have the doctor's thanks for this my forwardness to serve him, I
know not ; but I can in tmth say, I mean his good, as well as the good
of all into whose hands these sheets may fall ; and what is well meant,
he will allow, should be well taken. His wisdom and learning, I doubt
not, will direct him as to the use to be made of these quotations from the
writings of the evangelists and apostles. They may properly be con-
sidered (like experiments in natural philosophy) as so many instances,
demonstrating, in fact, not only the truth and certainty of the late dis-
covery, that the persons who could write in such a manner, could not
have been Divinely inspired ; but, as I said, that they could not have had
even common sense. The way will then be perfectly open for all that
remains, and he mnv make an easy transition to Atheism, Deism, or
what he pleases.
Joseph Benson.
BiRNiNGiiAM, February 25, 1790.
LETTERS
THE REV. DR. PRIESTLEY,
LATE REV. JOHN FLETCHER, &r.
LETTER II.
Doctor Priestley is mistaken lohen he asserts that the propJiets always spoke
of the Messiah as of a mere man like themselves, and that the Jews never
erpected that the Messiah could be more than a man. In ojyposition to
this error, this letter praises that our first parents expected a Divine
Messiah, and thai the Divine person who appeared to the jtaJriarchs and
to Moses, was Jehovah the Son, or Christ in his pre-esistent state.
Rev. Sir, — You might have given us, at least, twenty lines of plain,
uncontroverted truth in the beginning of your history ; but regardless
of so decent a caution, you stun us at once by a glaring, antichrislian
paradox. In the sixteenth line of your huge work, (lor we need not go
by pages to reckon up your errors,) speaking of the thoughts which the
Jews entertained of the Messiah, you say, " None of their prophets
gave them an idea of any other than a man like themselves in that illus-
trious character, and no other did they ever expect."
Now, sir, in opposition to this strange assertion, I shall show you, not
only that the prophets gave the Jews an idea of a Divine person to
appear in the cliaracter of the Messiah, and that accordingly they
expected such a one ; but that even our first parents must have formed
a much higher notion of that " seed of the woman which was to bruise
the serpent's head," than that of " a mere man like themselves." In
proof of this, I shall not produce the expression of Eve upon the birth
of Cain, whom, it is highly probable, she thought to be that seed, though
according to the Hebrew it is, " I have gotten the man, the Jehovah."
But I shall go upon surer grounds than any particular expression can
afford. I shall argue from facts and from the reason of the case.
However unwilling you may be to allow it, it is nevertheless, as we have
already seen in the former part of this work, an unquestionable truth,
that the Logos, the Word, who " was in the beginning with God and
was God," was the immediate Maker of our first parents, of that beau-
tiful world in which he placed them, and of all the creatures over
which he set them, nav, and of all things visible and invisible. Now
508 SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL.
can we suppose that Adam, who, as he came out of the hands of his
Maker, had such knowledge, that at first sight lie gave names to all the
creatures as they passed in review before him, and names perfectly
descriptive of their natures ; can we suppose, (I say,) that he did not
know wlio was his Creator, and the Creator of all these creatures
he had named ? Certainly we cannot. But if he knew who was his
Creator, he could hardly be ignorant who would be his Redeemer.
For, considering the holy and happy state he and his partner had been
in before their fall, the serenity of their minds, the \igour of their bodies,
and the beauty and fertility of the blissful spot where their bounteous
Lord had placed them ; and considering the sad change that had now
taken place, the dreadful ruin they had brought on themselves and their
posterity by their transgression ; considering their crime itself, with its
awful retinue, shame, the curse, sorrow, toil, death, and corruption ; it
was reasonable, surely, to think, that the repairer of the breach, the
restorer of a ruined world, would be that Divine person by whom it
was created. Thus, when we see an exquisite piece of mechanism,
capitally injured in all its parts, we reasonably conclude, that none can
completely mend it but the maker, or an artist who equals him in skill.
Nor was it unreasonable for our first parents to think, that their
Redeemer would be he w horn St. Paul calls " the Lord from heaven :"
for, he who made and married them, who gave them the garden of
Eden, and warned them not to eat of the forbidden fruit ; he who came
to them " walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and fiom whose
presence they hid themselves, when they heard his voice ;" he, who,
after he had convicted them, and had passed sentence of death upon
them, so kindly saved them from despair, by the unexpected promise of
a deliverer ; he, who already carried his merciful condescensiou so fiir
as to strip them of their " fig leaves, to make (hem coats of skin," and
to clothe them with needful and decent apparel ; — he might, in some
future period, condescend to unite himself, some way or other, to the
woman's seed, and become the destroyer of death and the serpent.
The reasonableness of this hope is evident, if he taught our first
parents (as it is highly pi'obable he did) to ofier in sacrifice the beasts,
" of whose skins he made them coats," and thus already showed himself
" our passover, the Lamb of God," typically " slain from the foundation
of the world." Nor can we more reasonably account for the original
notion and the universal custom of expiatory and propitiatory sacrifices,
than by the supposition, that mankind were led to this part of Divine
worship by a peculiar revelation, or by a positive command of that
Divine person, who familiarly conversed with Adam, and who is called
God, or Lord God, twenty-six times, in the second and third chapters of
Genesis.
The same Scriptures which inform us, that " No man hath seen God
[the Father] at any time, but that the only begotten Son, who is in the
bosom of the Father, hath declared him," .John i, 18, teach us, never-
theless, that God appeared to several of the patriarchs, and sometimes
even in a human shape. Hence it follows, that we must cither reject
St. John's declaration, above quoted, or admit Ihnt he who thus ap-
peared, is the Son, the Logos, who " was in the beginning with God^ and
was God."
SOCINIANISM UNSCKII'TUKAL. 509
The truth of this conchision will appear more clearly, if we take a
view of the design and circumstances of these ancient manifestations,
these preparatory, and transient incarnations (if I may so call them) of
the Word, who in a fixed period was to be really and lastingly mani-
fested in the flesh.
Whether we consider his expostulating with Cain, about the murder
of Abel, his trying and condemning that murderer, as he had done
Adam, and his " setting a mark upon" the guilty vagabond, " lest any
finding liim should kill him ;" or whether we take notice of the manner
in which he directed Noah to build his ark, made him enter into it, shut
him in, saved him and his family from tlie flood, and then " speaking
unto him, said, Go forth out of the ark," &c. Whether we advert to
the friendly manner in which he appeared to, and conversed with
Abraham, in his various stations and journeys ; or, whether we attend to
the familiarity with which, accompanied by two of liis angels, he came
to that patriarch in a human shape, condescended to eat with that friend
of God, as he ate with Simon, and was worshipped and invoked by him,
as the " Judge of all the earth," who claimed the absolute right of
sparing Lot, and destroying Sodom, as he had spared Noah, and
destroyed the whole world by water ; and who actually destroyed that
wicked city by raining, as Jehovah, fire from Jehovah upon it, when the
two angels, who accompanied him, had made Lot and his daughters
escape out of tliat accursed town : whether, I say, we consider these or
any other of the Lord's appearances, he is represented as Jehovah,
coming to do beforehand the work of the Messiah.
As sitpi'eme Prophet, he leads Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, opens the
eyes of Agar, instructs Moses and all the prophets, Bezaleel and all the
ingenious artists. As supreme High Priest, he directs Abraham and
Aaron how to ofler up proper sacrifices. As ^' Lord of Hosts, ^' or
" Captain of the Lord's Host," he overthrows five khigs before Abraham ;
Pharaoh before Moses ; the kings of Canaan befoi*e Joshua, and the
Philistines before David. As Angel of the covenant, he strengthens,
wrestles with, and blesses Jacob ; he visits, directs, and animates
Gideon ; he assumes a human shape to promise a son to Abraham, and
to Manoah : and as he said to the Jews, " Before Abraham was, I am,"
so speaking to Moses from the burning, unconsumed bush, which was
an emblem of his eternal power and glory, he shows that, with his
Father, he is "the First and the Last," and declares their common
name, " I am that I am."
These manifestations of Jehovah's glory had circumstances character-
istic of the Son's person, as appears by the accounts handed down to us
in the sacred writings. When " Moses, Aaron, and seventy -two of the
elders of Israel went up, and esaw the God of Israel," it is said, " There
was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it
were the body of heaven in his clearness : and that upon these nobles
he laid not his hand." He appeared therefore as a man, since he had
" feet and hands," which it cannot be shown the Father ever did.
Accordingly the apostle, speaking of the preference which Moses'
faith gave to the God of Israel over the idols and riches of the Egyp-
tians, says that " Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches
than the treasures in Egypt," Heb. xi, 26, the Israelites being then as
610 SOCINIANISM UNSCRlPTURAIi.
much reproached by the Egj'ptians for worshipping " the God of Israel,"
as we are by you, sir, for worshipping the Logos. And St. Paul, allud-
ing to these words of Moses : " The children of Israel tempted Jehovah,
saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?" Exod. xvii, 7; says to the Co-
rinthians, " Let us not tempt Christ, as some of them [the children of
Israel] also tempted [him] and were destroyed of serpents, 1 Cor. x, 9 ;
which shows the apostle believed that Jehovah, leader of Israel through
the wilderness, was the very Logos, who sustained openly the office of
Messiah, when he was at length manifested in human flesh.
And as the Scriptures show that these transient manifestations of
Jehovah are in general to be understood of Christ in his Divine nature,
or in his "form of God," see Phil, ii, 6, your own reason, sir, prejudiced
as it is, must see the propriety of this doctrine. For if there be, in union
with the Father's Godhead, a Word, a Son, " whose goings out are from
everlasting," " who was in the beginning with God [the Father] and was
God," insomuch that he can say, as " the only begotten Son of the Fa-
ther, I and my Father are one," in a sense which can be true only with
respect to him who is the proper Son, and the " express image " of the
Father, see Rom. viii, 32, in the original, and Heb. i, 3 ; — if there be,
I say, such a Being, whom St. John calls the Logos, and whom the
Father names his " well beloved Son ;" and if the Scriptures testify,
that the Father sent this Son to redeem mankind, and to bless all nations ;
is it not more reasonable to believe that the Father occasionally sent
him first to redeem the Israelites from the Egyptian captivity, and to
bless that favoured people, than to believe that the Father, who never
personally appeared, no, not for the redemption of all mankind, appear,
ed, nevertheless, sometimes as a man, and sometimes as an angel, for
the redemption of the children of Israel from their house of bondage ?
A Son, even the proper Son of God, may, with the greatest propriety,
be sent by his Father, to do works worthy of onmipotence, such as the
redemption of a world, or the deliverance of a favourite people ; but to
suppose the Father personally to appear as a partial Saviour in jc.cloud
or in a flame, on a mountain or in a temple ; to suppose him to show
himself sometimes as an angel, and sometimes as a man, is contrary
both to the analogy of faith and the dictates of reason.
Beside, the Scriptures inform us, that " by faith Moses endured as
seeing Him who is invisible," because "he dwells in the hght, which no
man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see," Heb.
xi, 27, and 1 Tim. vi, 16. And they declare, that if the Father be visi-
ble, it is in his Son, John xiv, 9. From these rational and Scriptural
premises, I conclude that Jehovah, who appeared to Moses, and to the
seventy-two elders, and who said to the people of Israel, " I am the Lord
thy God, who brought thee out of the house of bondage," is that " ex-
press image of the Fadjer," tliat " Prmce of Ufe," who said, " He tlrat
hath seen me hath seen the Father : I and the Father are one."
The reviewers* have proved to you, sir, that this was the opinion of
* Mo n fitly Review for January, 1784, p. CI, — "To prove (say these gentlemen)
beyond the possibility of dispute or evasion, that by the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, Justin meant Christ, wo refer the reader to his celebrated apology to
the Emperor Antoninus Pius, (pp. 93, 94,) in which this expression is not only
epplied to ('hrist, but even vindicated as his own ajipropriatc and distinct character.
SOCINIANISM UNaCRIPTUKAL. 511
Justin, one of the most ancient and respectable fathers, who had the
honour of seahng the truth of the Gospel with his blood, one hundred
and thirty years after our Lord. And Bishop Bull confirms the proofs
brought against you, where he \vTites, " That the Son of God was he
who appeared to Moses in the bush, and said, ' I am the existent Being,'
Justin, in his dialogue with Trypho, eagerly contends. The case is this :
That description of God, in Moses, I am, equally agrees to the Father
and the Son, as to one God ; always saving the distinction of persons :
which is excellently explained by Justin, after this manner : — God the
Father ia [o wv] the Existent, as always existing of himself ; God the Son
is [o wv] the Existent, as existing with the Father, and eternally begotten
of him." {Bull by Grahe, vol. i, p. 347.)
Meaning to resume the important subject the first opportunity, I now
release you, and subscribe myself your sincere friend, and obedient ser-
vant, in the Word made flesh,, John Flktcher.
LETTER III.
The subject of the former letter continued.
Rev. Sir, — Should you deny that Jehovah who " appeared to Abra-
ham " in the plains of Mamre, accompanied by two angels, was the
Logos, we prove our assertion thus. The Scriptures nowhere speak
of £my transient incarnation of the Father ; it is therefore unscriptural to
suppose, that the person who " did eat of the butter, milk, and cakes,"
which Abraham did set before him, and who kindly inquired after Sarah,
was the " Father." Nevertheless, that he was God, is evident ; for he
is called eight times Jehovah in the context. And therefore the ana-
logy of faith requires us to believe that it was Jehovah the Son, who
already condescended to quit his " form of God," and to appear in the
form of a servant, that he might " receive sinners and eat with them :"
compare Gen. xviii, 8, with Luke xv, 2, and John xxi, 12.
The same reasons prove that the Divine person, who stood above the
mysterious ladder which Jacob saw in Bethel, was " Jehovah the Son."
" Behold," saith the historian, " Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am
Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; behold,
I am with thee in all places whither thou goest, and in thy seed shall all
the families of the earth be blessed. And Jacob waking out of his sleep
said. Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not : it is none other
but the house of God and the gate of heaven," Gen. xxviii, 13-17. Now
the God who appeared to Abraham, Gen. xxii, 1, to Isaac, Gen. xxvi,
24, to Jacob, Gen. xxviii, 13, and to Moses, Exod. iii, 0, is again and
again called the angel of Jehovah, or rather Jehovah the angel, as ap-
pears from Gen. xxii, 11, 12, 18 ; Exod. iii, 2, and Mai. iii, 1. Now
that this Jeliovah, angel both of the Jewish and of the Christian cove-
nant, is " the Son," appears from these three reasons : (1.) The Father
never sustained the part of an angel, a messenger, or an envoy. Who
should send him? (2.) The Sou, who can with propriety be sent by the
Father, is frequently said to have been delegated on errands worthy of
redeeming love. And (3.) The Scriptures expressly declare that Jeho
512 SOCINIANISM UXSCRII'TURAI.
vah, Angel of the covenant, is our Lord Jesus Christ. Compare Mai.
iii, 1, &c, with Mark i, 1, &c.
Nor will it avail to say that the Jews, not having the New Testament,
could not find out the truth 1 assert : for, as has been observed in the
former part, the Old Testament clearly indicates that, in the Deity, there
is a mysterious distinction of interlocutors and agents, though without
any division. The Jews who, as we have seen, had this key given them
at tlie very begiiming of their revelation, could not but take notice, that
although each of these interlocutors is called Jehovah, yet one of them
is Jehovah the envoy, the ambassador, or the angel. And they might
as well deny the veracity of Moses, as deny that Jehovah, who appeared
to Jacob in Bethel, is Jehovah the envoy. For Jacob said to Rachel
and Leah, " The angel of God appeared to me in a dream, saying, I am
the God of Bethel where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou
vowedst a vow unto me : now arise, get thee out from this land," Gen.
xxxi, 11, 13. Now the God of Bethel declared to Jacob m Bethel, that
he was the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and therefore every attentive
Jew could not but see that Jehovah-envoy, or the angel of the Jewish
covenant, was the God of the patriarchs, viz. the Logos, the Son, who,
being " Jehovah, rained from Jehovah fire upon Sodom," after he had
told Abraham that he could not spare that wicked city.
Christ is represented in the New Testament as the Captain of our
salvation, armed with a sword, Heb. ii, 10, and Rev. xix, 15. And the
Old Testament exhibits Jehovah-envoy as sustauiing the same character.
" When Joshua was by Jericho, he lift up his eyes, and behold, there
stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand : and
Joshua went to him and said. Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said. Nay, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto
him, What saith my Lord unto his servant ? And the Captain of the
Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from oft' thy foot, for the
place whereon thou standest is holy :" the very charge which the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gave to Moses from the flaming bush in
Horeb. And when Joshua had obeyed, the man, who appeared as Captain
of the Lord's host, gave him directions about the taking of Jericho, as
the God of Abraham had given directions to Moses about the delivering
his people from the Egyptian bondage. These orders are thus expressed ;
And " Jehovah said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thy hands Jeri-
cho ; ye shall compass the city six days," &c, Josh, v, 13, &c, and vi, 2, &c.
Unless we absurdly suppose that the Captain of the Lord's host ap-
peared merely to bid Joshua loose his shoes from off his feet, it follows
iiom this narration, that the personage who appeared to Moses' successor,
was Jehovah God of Abraham. This is evident, (1.) From his being
called Jehovah, and (2.) From his requiring and accepting religious
worship from Joshua. And that it was Jehovah the Son is equally
plain, (1.) From his assuming the form of a servant: (2.) From his
styUng himself the Captain of Jehovah's armies ; for according to the
analogy of faith, the Son, Jehovah-envoy, may be called the Captain of
his Father's host, but the Father can never be sent on an expedition, as
Captain of his Son's armies.
That Jelwvah-enwij, so frequently styled the envoy of Jehomh ; or as
SOCINIAOTSM TJNSCRIPTURAL. 513
we have it in our translation, " the angel of the Lord," was known to
the Jews, as the " mighty God," whose name is Wonderful, appears from
the following account : " The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, and
said, Jehovah is with thee : and Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go
in this thy might, [the might which I impart unto thee,] and thou shalt
save Israel : have I not sent thee ?" AJid when Gideon drew back,
" Jehovah [namely, the angel Jehovah] said unto him, Surely I will be
with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." Hence the
Israehtes, when they fell upon the Midianites, shouted, " The sword of
Jehovah and of Gideon." When Jehovah-envoy, who appeared only
as a traveller, with " a stafl' in his hand," disappeared, after giving a
proof of his divinity, by showing he was God that answereth by fire, see
Judges vi, 21, Gideon perceived the infinite dignity of the personage who
had spoken to him, and remembering that Jehovah had said to Moses,
" No man shall see me [in my form of God] and live," Exod. xxxiii, 20 ;
and thinking he was to die immediately, cried out, " Alas ! O Loi'd God,
for because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face : and Jehovah
[as he disappeared] said unto him, Peace be unto thee ; fear not : thou
shalt not die : and Gideon built an altar there unto Jehovah, and called
it Jehovah-Shalom," that is. The God of peace. From this account it is
evident, (1.) That the angel, who appeared to Gideon, is the very angel
Jehovah, who appeared to Abraham on Mount Moiiah, to Jacob in Bethel,
and to Moses in Horeb. (2.) That he is Jehovah, who answers by fire,
seeing he manifested his glory to Gideon as he did to Moses and Elijah,
by a supernatural fire. (3.) And that as the analogy of faith does not
permit us to believe that God the Father ever appeared as a man with a
staff" in his hand, it was without doubt Jehovah Jesus, who, as the great
Saviour of the Israelites, appointed saviours for the deliverance of his
people, and Gideon among others ; as afterward in the days of his flesh,
as the great apostle of our profession, he appointed twelve apostles to
instruct mankind.
This doctrine is confirmed by the account we have of the manner in
which Samson was raised to the office of a temporal saviour of the Israel-
ites. A personage, who is called several times the angel of the Lord,
or the envoy Jehovah, appeared as a man to Manoah and his wife, to
whom he promised the birth of Samson. Manoah, not knowing his
dignity, asked him his name : and the angel of the Lord said unto hhn,
Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret, or wonderful ?
Peli, the very word afterward used by the prophet, who saith. His name
shall be called Wonderful, Pkli, Isa. ix, 6. " So Manoah took a kid,
with a meat otibring, and offered it upon a rock unto Jehovah ; and the
angel of the Lord [or Jehovah-envoy] did wonderfully," for showing
himself the God that appeared in the burning bush to Moses, and accept-
ing the propitiatory sacrifice, which Manoah and his wife offered, " he
ascended in the flame of the altar as they looked on, and fell on their
faces to the ground. Then Manoah knew that he W'as [Jehovah -envoy,
or] the angel of the Lord ; and he said unto his wife, We shall surely
die, because we have seen God : but his wife [perceiving that it was
Jehovah-Shalom, the God of Gideon, the God of peace, who had appeared
unto them] said to him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would
never have received a burnt offering at our hands," Judges xiii, 23.
Vol. III. 33
&14 SOCINIANISM TTNSCRIPTURAI..
The same reasons which prove that the person who appeared to
Gideon is Jehovah Jesus, prove also that the person who appeared to
Manoah and his wife, whom they at tirst called a man, and before whom
they trembled when they knew him to be God and Jehovah, is that veiy
Emmanuel, that God manifested in the flesh, whom Christians worship
as Jehovah -Shalom, coming to make peace and reconciliation. * * *
LETTER IV.
The foundation of the proofs of ChrisCs dwinity from the writings of the
■prophets, is laid in the three original prophecies recorded by Moses con-
cerning the Messiah.
Rev. Sir, — In the two last letters I have endeavoured to show, both
from Scripture and reason, that the Israelites might reasonably expect a
Divine Messiah, and that it is most unreasonable and unscriptural to sup-
pose, that, whereas the Son appeared on Mount Calvaiy for the redemp-
tion of all mankind from the tyranny of sin, death, and Satan, God the
Father appeared on Mount Horeb merely to redeem one single nation
from the tyranny of Pharaoh. Coming now to the point, I shall con-
front your first fundamental proposition with the prophecies of the Old
Testament. Speaking of the Messiah as a mere man, and repeating in
your Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit, what I have already quoted from
the beginning of your History of the Corruptions of Christianity, you
write, p. 331 : "Nor can it be said that any of the ancient prophecies
give us the least hint of any thing farther."
In direct opposition to this doctrine, I shall show that* all the prophetic
books of the Old Testament contain strong hints or express declarations
of the Messiah's divinity ; and I enter upon this task the more willingly,
as I hope to present you with some new observations on this important
subject.
The oldest book is Genesis : Moses, the writer of it, is the first prophet
of the Jews, the oldest people in the world. And in that book we find
the three original promises relative to the Messiah. The first was made
immediately after the fall, in these words : "I will put enmity between
thee [O serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed :
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel," Gen. iii, 15.
As if the Lord had said to the tempter, " By the instrumentality of a
serpent thou hast triumphed over the woman, and by her over the man,
but the day is not lost : a long and dreadful war shall be waged between
thee and my Church, the spiritual mother of all living souls, the rnvstical
woman of whom Eve is a type : and another Eve shall one day bea» a
Son, the second and better Adam, whom 1 call the seed of the worr>an,
because he shall be miraculously formed of the substance of a woman
without the interposition of a man, as Eve was miraculously formed of
the substance of Adam without the interposition of a woman. Armed
with Divine power, he shall enter the fieM against thee, and thy forces.
By the help of the wicked, who are thy seed, thou shalt indeed bruise
* Had it pleased the Lord to spare 3Ir. Fletcher, he had purposed to do this.
SOCINIANISM UNSCKIl'TUKAL. 515
his heel, wound to death the inferior part of his wonderful person, the
body which he shall assume from liis mother, and by which he shall be
allied to the earth. But his deadly wound shall be fatal to thee ; for,
shownig himself the Prince of hfe, even with his bruised heel ' he shall
bruise thy head,' he shall destroy thee and thy seed. Tlien shall the
woman and her seed possess the gates of their enemies ; then shall the
curse brought upon the earth by the first Adam, be turned into a blessing
by the second ; and the world redeemed, instead of being full of cruel
habitations, shall become hke this forfeited garden." That this is a just
exposition of this first prophecy, appears both from what is already
come to pass, and from otlier predictions descriptive of the events fore-
told to the mystical serpent.
And do not say, sir, that this paraplu'ase makes too much of Christ ;
for if " the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil,"
1 John iii, 8, is it not evident, that none can turn " thorns and thistles"
into paradisiacal shrubs, anguish into bliss, death into liie, and the general
curse into a uni\ ersal blessing, but He who said at first, " Let there be
light, and there was light ;" and who, when he first acted the part of a
righteous Judge, tliundered these words in the ears of guilty man,
" Cursed is the ground for thy sake, thorns and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee : dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return !" For sup-
posing the sun, by withliolding his quickening beams, had caused a
general winter and a universal night ; is it not plain that the only remedy
adequate to the greatness of such an evil, would be the return of the
solar light ?
The second original promise respecting the Messiah was made to
Abraham, when he dwelt in Haran, and confirmed upon Mount Moriah,
on an occasion which reflects a great light on the sufierings, character,
and work of the Messiah. "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord,
[who can swear by no other being than himself,] because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son ; that m blessing I
will bless thee : thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," Gen. xxii, 16, &;c.
St. Paul, alluding to this promise, saith, " Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us : for it is written. Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree : that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles, through Jesus Christ. For to Abraham and his
seed were the promises [to a universal blessing] made : he [God] saith
not, And to seeds, as [if this blessing wei-e to be the desert] of many [of
Abraham's children,] but as of one [one of them,] And to thy seed,
which is Christ," Gal. iii, 13, 16.
Being enlightened by this, and other parallel scriptures, we clearly
see that the sense of this promise is as follows : — " O thou father of
the faithful, Heaven is pleased with thy steady obedience : thou hast
exemplified the holy piu'pose of God the Father, who will not spare his
Son, his only begotten Son ; but will deliver him up as a Divine sacrifice
for a guilty world : and Isaac hath shadowed out the meek obedience of
the Son of God, that heavenly Lamb, which God will provide, that won-
derful descendant of thine, wlio shall he so superior to all his brethren,
as eminently to deserve the name of ' the Son of God,' according to ' his
outgoings from everlasting,' and the name of thy seed, according to the
516 60CINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAt.
human nature, which he shall assume from thee, by a virgin of thine
offspring. It is he whom I pecuharly mean by thy seed. He shall be
thine Isaac, thy laughter, and thy joy : by faith ' see his day and be
glad,' John viii, 56. Rejoice in him evermore, for he shall be ' the
desire of all nations,' and ' the joy of the whole earth :' for through him
shall all the famiUes and people be filled with righteousness, peace, and
joy ; when he shall 'possess the gates of his enemies,' and cause right-
eousness to cover the earth, as the mighty waters cover the bottom of
the sea."
The third prophecj^ relative to the Messiah, was uttered by dying
Jacob. " Gather yourselves together," said he to his sons, " that I may
tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Judah, thou art he
whom thy brethren shall praise : thy father's children shall bow down
before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp, he stooped down, he couched as
a lion, and as an old lion : who shall rouse him up 1 The sceptre shall
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
Shiloh come, and unto him shall be the gathering of the nations,"
Gen. xlix, 8-10.
This ancient prophecy, explained according to the parallel scriptures,
amounts to the following prediction : — " Judah my son, as the hon is
king among the beasts of the forest, so shall thy tribe be the most
honourable, powerful, and warlike in Israel. But thy greatest honour
shall arise from David, one of thy descendants, and from the line of
kings, who shall spring up from his loins : for they, together with the
Levites and priests, who shall adhere to them, shall continue to give
princes and rulers to the Israelites, till the Shiloh shall come, who shall
sustain four most important offices. (1.) Being typified by Moses and
Aaron, two of Levi's grandchildren, he shall be a meek Lawgiver, a
powerful Prophet, and a majestic High Priest. (2.) Beuig represented
by David, an invincible captain, and a victorious prince, whose offspring
he shall be, he shall subdue or destroy all his enemies, and shall deserve
the titles of ' Lion of the tribe of Judah,' and ' Captain of our salvation.'
And (3.) Being shadowed out by Solomon, another of his ancestors, a
peaceful and prosperous king, who by his wisdom and power shall secure
the admiration and respect of all the east, he shall show himself the
Shiloh, the mighty Redeemer, promised to our fathers ; for he shall
redeem Israel from all his sins, and from all his troubles. Nor will he
confine his royal benefits to our posterity. For when he shall have
finished his work as lawgiver and prophet ; when he shall have been
persecuted by his brethren as Abel ; when he shall have been offered for
us, and restored back to us as Isaac, his law shall be preached to distant
nations, and he shall long remain as a coucliing lion : but he shall at
last be roused up by the groans of his oppressed people, and by the
crying sins of all mankind. Then ' shall his hand bo on the neck of
his enemies ;' then shall he do his strange work as ' the lion of Judah's
tribe :' but soon coming up from the slaughter, as Abraham from the
defeat of the five kings, he shall show himself, not only the promised
bruiser of the serpent's seed, but the Prince of Peace, both for our pos-
terity and for all mankind ; for ' all the families of the earth shall be
blessed through him, and unto him shall the gathering of the nations be ;
the fulness of the Gentiles coming in,' after the Jews, to enjoy the
SOCIMAMSM UNSCRIPTURAL. 517
blessings of his holy, peaceful, and prosperous reign. And then shall
be fulfilled another prophecy : ' His righteous dominion shall be from
sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the eaith.' I say his
righteous dominion, for when ' the kingdoms of this world' shall become
the happy provinces of his kingdom, righteousness shall cover the earth :
' The whole earth shall be filled with his glory,' and all his subjects shall
sing, ' Blessed be [Emmanuel] the Lord God, the God of Israel, who
only doth wondrous things : and blessed be his glorious naine for evej; !
Amen, and Amen !' " Psalm Ixxii, 8, 20.
You will see, sir, that this sense of Jacob's prophecy is confirmed by
the prophecies of the other men of God ; all the other oracles respecting
the same subject being only confirmations and explanations of the three
original promises handed to us by Moses. He hath so clearly described
the Messiah, by the Divine works appointed for him, that to prove
Christ's divinity, by the concurrent testimony of all the prophets, I need
only prove that they unanimously declare, that the wonderful person,
who shall reverse the curse, bruise the serpent's head, destroy the
wicked, possess the gate of his enemies, unto whom all people shall be
gathered, and in whom all tlie nations of the earth shall be blessed, is a
person truly Divine, even Jehovah, the Son, or " Emmanuel, God mani-
fest in the flesh," to be both the " King of the Jews," the " Saviour of
the world," and the " King of the prmces of the earth."
Objection. You will probably say, sir, that " Moses himself over-
turns the sense, which I put upon the three original promises recorded
by liim, with respect to the Messiah ; and that when Moses foretells
Christ's coming, he only speaks of him as " of a prophet, like unto
himself;" and that if Christ were a prophet " Uke unto Moses," so sure
as Moses was a man only, the Messiah was a mere man."
Answer. We grant that Christ, as " Son of man," is like Moses, in
several respects. Was the son of Amram saved in his infancy from the
cruelty of a jealous tyrant, who had doomed him to die with a multitude
of other children ? So was the son of Mary. Was Moses the lawgiver
of the Jews 1 So is Christ the legislator of the Christians. Was Moses
remarkable for his meekness ? So was he who says, " Learn of me, for
I am meek in heart." Both being appointed as mediating prophets,
stood in the gap to turn away the wrath of Heaven from a guilty people.
Both, as shepherds of the Lord, led his straying sheep through a wilder-
ness to a delightful land. Did Moses smite Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan ? So will Christ
" wound kings in the day of his wrath." Did Moses heal the dying
Israelites, by hfting up the serpent in the wilderness ? So Christ heals
believers by being lifted up on the cross. Did Moses fast forty days,
and receive the law on Mount Sinai ? So did Jesus fast forty days, and
deliver his law on a mount of Galilee. "^Vas Moses i-ejected, and
almost stoned by the Israelites ? So was Christ by tlie Jews. Did
Moses despise the glory of Egypt, that he might sufler for, and with the
people of God ? So did our Lord despise all the kingdoms of the world,
and the glory of them, that lie might sufier for, and with his people. In
a word, is Moses the great prophet of the Old Testament ? So is Christ
of the New. This was ground sufficient for the comparison which
Moses made of Christ with himself.
518 SOCINIANISM ITNSCKIPTURAL.
But, to conclude that because Christ, according to his human nature,
was a prophet like unto Moses, he must be a mere man as Moses, is
illogical.
Dying Jacob, to express the toil, strength, and patience of Issachar's
tribe, says, " Issachar is [like] a strong ass, couching down between two
burthens." But must we infer from thence, that Isaachar had long ears,
and really carried two panniers as an ass? It is by such injudicious
pressing of comparisons, that monstrous doctrines are obtruded upon
Christians, and that while some turn Soeinians, others become even
MateriaUsts.
But although the Scriptures shoAV that there is proper ground for a
comparison between Christ and Moses, they take care to keep us from
the rock against which you split ; for they not ordy tell us that Christ is
" anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows," but that he is the
" chiefest among ten thousand" prophets, priests, and kings ; because
their divers offices all join in his Divine person. When the Israelites
were in the desert, God was their king, Moses their prophet, Aaron their
priest, and Joshua their general; but Christ sustains alone all their
parts.
I have shown (in letter ii) that under the law, the Logos, or God,
manifest sometimes in flames of fire, and sometimes in a human form,
was the King of Israel, and Moses was his prime minister : a leading
truth this, which Nathanael acknowledged, when discovering our Lord's
glory, he cried out, " Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King
of Israel," John i, 49. As if he had said. Thou art he, whose patience
our fathers tried in the desert, and whom they rejected in the days of
Samuel, as appears by that prophet's expostulation, " Ye said to me,
Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord 3rour God was your
King," 1 Sam. xii, 12. But under the Gospel, when the Logos is con-
tinually manifested in the flesh, he sustains both characters ; and, in that
sense, may be compared to those great monarchs, who, Uke Frederic,
the late king of Prussia, are their own prime ministers.
Hence it is that, although as a prophet, or a minister, Christ is like
Moses, yet as Logos, and King of Israel, he is infinitely superior to the
Jewish lawgiver. " Consider Jesus Christ," says the apostle, « He was
counted worthy of more glory than Moses," on two capital accounts :
(1.) Moses was faithful as a "servant in the house of him who had
appointed him : but Christ was faithful as a son, over his own house."
(2.) " Moses was worthy of glory," inasmuch as he was a fiindamental
stone in the house of God ; but " Christ is worthy of more glorj', inas-
much as he who built the house hath more honour than the house," or
any part of it : " for every house is built by some man ; but he who
hath built [the Jewish Church and] all things, is God," Heb. iii, 1, 4.
These words, with which I shall conclude this letter, are both a full
answer to the objection I consider, and a full proof of our Lord's
divinity. I remain, dear sir, &c.
SOCINIANISM UNSCKIPTTRAL. 519
LETTER V.
All the prophets hear witness to the Messiah as the bruiser of tJie serpent,
and the prosperous King reigning in righteousness over the subject nations :
in other woj-ds, they foretell the days of vengeance, and the days of refresh-
ing which shall succeed them, under his administration.
To open the prophecies i-clative to the Messiah's glory, we must have
a Divine key. I have already shown that Moses gave it us, when he
described the Redeemer as the destroyer of the serpent, and as the
Shiloh, the prosperous King, who, after having " laid his hands on the
neck of his enemies as a lion," shall sway the sceptre of his mercy
over the submissive nations, or (to use the prophet's laconic style)
"unto whom shall the gathering of the people be," Cxen. xlix, 10.
The Messiah's achievements, in this two-fold point of view, were
tj-pified by the exploits of David and Solomon, the two first of his royal
ancestors. David is long poor, despised by his brethren, and unknown
to Israel. When he is anointed king of Israel, he is hated and pursued
by a jealous and bloody prince ; but he kills the giant who defied the
armies of the living God, routs the Philistines, and after having acted
the part of the lion of the tribe of Judah, and given the Israehtes victory
on all sides, he leaves the crown to peaceful Solomon, " unto whom is
the gathering of the people," and who " builds the magnifcent temple
of the Lord," and heaps upon Israel tjie blessings of a peaceful and
prosperous reign.
St. Peter, in his second sermon, preaches the Messiah according to
these two displays of his redeeming power. " It shall come to pass
(says he) that whosoever will not hear that [royal] Prophet shall be
destroyed from among the people. Repent ye, therefore, that your sins
may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord, and he shall send .Tesus Christ, who was before
preached unto you [under the names of Wonderful, mighty God, Prince
of Peace, Emmanuel, &c,] whom the heaven must receive, until the
times of the restitution of all things, which God, since the world began,
hath spoken by the mouth of all his liuly prophets. For all the prophets
from Samuel, [who appointed David, the first royal type of the Mes-
siah,] as many as have spoken have foretold these days" of vengeance,
in which the Messiah will bruise the serpent and his brood, and these
days of refreshing, when the Lc»rd Jesus, having destroyed " those who
would not have him reign over them," will give rest to his faithfiil sub-
jects in all his dominions, which " shall extend unto the ends of the
eaith." For, adds St. Peter, " God said unto Abraham, And in thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed," Acts iii, 19-25.
As inattention and unl)elief have cast a veil over this glorious part of
the Gospel, permit me, sir, to remove a corner of this veil, and to show
how the prophets have all spoken of the glorious days of the Messiah,
and of the days of vengeance, whicli shall precede them. My dwelling
on this point will not be a needless digression, but the very ground on
which I shall rest one of my strongest proofs of your error, and of
Christ's divinity. 1 now begin with Samuel, whom St. Peter parti-
cularly mentions.
520 SOCINIANISM trNSCHIPTURAX.
Before I liad found the key of Scripture knowledge, I own to you,
sir, that I wondered how that apostle could say to the Jews, that Samuel
had prophesied of Christ. I found no such prophecy in the books of
Samuel. But now I see that St. Peter had in view the most glorious
typical predictions concerning Christ, as our king, prophet, and priest.
I have proved that the " King of Israel," who brought his people out
of Egypt, was Christ in his pre-e.xistent nature. Moses was the prime
minister of this great King ; Joshua, the general of his armies ; the
tabernacle his palace ; the mercy seat his throne ; the ark his royal
standard ; the priests his officers ; the Levites his guards ; and the
shekinah the visible display of his presence. In the days of Samuel,
whom he had chosen for his prophet, minister, and representative, the
Jews, tired of their invisible King, said to Samuel, " Make us a king, to
judge us, [personally and visibh',] like all the nations. And Jehovah
said unto Samuel, Hearken to the people : they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. As they
have done since the day that I brought them out of Egyj^t, so do they
also unto thee," 1 Sam. ^iii, 5. And when Samuel expostulated with
them, he said, Your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the
sight of the Lord, iii asking you a king, when Jehovah " your God weis
your King." And to back this reproof, Jehovah sent such " thunder
and rain for a whole day in wheat harvest," as made the rebellious Jews
afraid of instant destruction, 1 Sam. xii, 12, 19. From this important
passage, we learn three things. (1.) The King of Israel, who was
rejected by the Jews in Samuel's days, is truly Jehovah, that very
" Lord of glory," whom the Jews rejected a second time, when, appear-
ing " in the form of a servant, he came to his own, and his own received
him not," but crucified him with this remarkable title, " Jesus, the King
of the Jews," the very title given him, both by the wise men, when they
inquired after him " that was born King of the Jews," and by the
" Israelite without guile," when, seeing the form of God shining in
Christ through the form of a servant, he confessed that Christ was the
Son of God, " the King of Israel," John i, 49. (2.) We see the
ground of that " good confession, which our Lord made before Pontius
Pilate," when he declared himself both "the Son of God," and "the
King of the Jews." Nor do I see how this confession could be true,
if Christ, in his form of God, was not that very Jehovah envoy, who
spake to Moses in Horeb, and who, by indefectible right, was the King
of the Jews, and of the whole earth, even after his unruly subjects had
rejected him. And that this was the true question in debate is evident
from these taunting words of the unbelieving Jews : " If he be the King
of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe
him," Matt, xxvii, 42. (3.) If this is the truth for which our Lord (as
faithfiil witness and Divine martyr) thought it proper to lay down his
life, does it not follow, that the doctrine of Christ's divinity, or of his
absolute right, as " Lord of glory," to be the " King of the Jews," and
" of the whole earth," is the capital doctrine of the Old as well as of
the New Testament ?
But, methinks you rise with indignation against this inference. What
becomes of the glory of the Father, if the Son was the King of Israel
in Samuel's time, and is still the King of the whole earth ? But yoii
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 521
need not fear tliat our doctrine gives a wrong touch to the ark of the
Father's monarchy ; for as the " Son, the Lord of glory," is the osten-
sive King of" the Church and of the whole earth, in and by whom the
Father now governs the world : so there will come a time when the
" Father of glory" will himself be the ostensive iving, governing all the
nations of men, whom the Son hath redeemed and brought into subjec-
tion, immediately in his own proper person, without the mediating minis,
try of the Son, the Son, however, still reigning in and with the Father.
For, says an apostle, the Son " must reign till he hath put death," and
*' all enemies under his feet." And when the kingdoms of this world
shall have been made worthy of the Father's peculiar acceptance ; when
Emmanuel " shall have put down all those earthly and infernal powers
destructive of the perfect order and complete happiness of the universe,
" then shall come the end" of the Son's mediatorial kingdom ; then
shall the Son of God " deliver up the kingdom to God the Father," in
whom nevertheless the Son and the Spirit will still have the dominion
belonging to their Divine rank : and thus, while the man Christ, still
united to the Word, shall be the first " subject of him who put all things
under him," God (namely the Father, including the Word, and the Holy
Ghost) will be all in all for ever, 1 Cor. xv, 24, &:c. But I return to
Samuel.
Although, in his time, the Jews incurred already the horrible guilt of
rejecting tlie Lord of glory from being their ostensive king, they did not,
they could not put an end to his supreme authority. The theocracy,
though impugned, was not destroyed. Jehovah, King of the Jews, still
exercised his prerogative, in appointing worshipful types of that Divine
Prophet, who was to declare and do the will of God better than Samuel,
and of that Divine Priest and King, on whom he would transfer the
shekinah, the Divine glory, which rested in the tabernacle, when
Jehovah filled it with adorable displays of his presence. Hence he
continued Samuel as his prophet, and by his means foretold, both by
words and typical actions, the removol of all ungodly priests, the
destruction of all wicked kings, and the appearance of Christ, the man
after his own heart, who should do all his pleasure, and of whose Divine
anointmg, that of Aaron, David, and Elisha, was but a faint shadow.*
As Job speaks of the Messiah, when he says, " I laiow that my
Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth," Job xix, 25 ; so his aflihclions were a type of the tribulation of
the righteous, and his happy end was an emblem of the prosperity of
the Church, in the day when our Lord shall " stand on the mount of
Olives," and " gather his saints,'' that they may " see the vengeance,
and wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly," Psalm Iviii, 10.
David, in the beginning of the 22d Psalm, describes the amazing
sorrows of the Messiah, and the manner in which his heel was bruised,
when " his hands and his feet were pierced" by the seed of the serpent.
And at the end of that Psalm, he declares that the gathering of the
people shall be unto Shiloh : that " the ends of the world shall remember
* Here there seems to be a chasm in tlie work. Mr. Fletcher uudoubtedly
meant to have drawn more proofs or ilhistrations of his doctrine from the histo-
rical books before he came to the poetical and prophetical.
522 SOCIMAXISM TrXSCRIPTURAL.
themselves, and mm unto the Lord" in his Son, " and all the kindreds
of the eartli shall worship before him," for (after the day of vengeance)
" the kingdom shall be the Lord's, and he shall be the Governor among
the nations. Then shall the meek inherit the earth, then shall they eat,
worship, and be satisfied ;" enjoying without alloy the days of refresh-
ing, which the Lord's presence will bring to those who shall have been
faithful unto the end, whether they shall be of those dead saints, who
shall have a part in the first resurrection, which shall take place in the
beginning of the days of refreshing ; or whether they shall be among
the saints, who then shall be found aUve.
Isaiah is full of this doctrine : take one or two instances out of a
hundred. You know, sir, that in the language of the prophets, as Jacob
and the house of Joseph signify the godly, so Edom and the house of
Esau stand for the wicked, the enemies of God's holy Church. Isaiah
had a prophetic view of the Messiah, performing his strange work, his
work of judgment, and " travelling in the greatness of his strength," as
Lion of the tribe of Judah, when he says, Isaiah Ixiii, 1-6, " Who is he
that Cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? This that
is glorious in his apparel, (Rev. xix, 12,) travelling in the greatness of his
strength? I that speak in righteousness, (answers Shiloh,) mighty to
save : and I will tread [all the Edomites] in mine anger, and trample
them in my fury, and my garments shall be sprinkled with their blood,
for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed
is come. In mine anger I will tread down the people, [who obstinately
trample my blood and my followers under foot,] I will make them
drunk in my fury, and will bring their strength down to the ground."
The prophet, struck with awe, breaks cut into a song of praise to the
Lord tor his " great goodness toward the house of Israel," the righteous
to whom the Lord condescends to give rest from those who turned the
earth into cruel habitations, and who made the very houses of God dens
of thieves, murderers, and hypocrites, verses 7, 8. This song of thanks-
giving and praise was echoed back by St. John, when he had a pro-
phetic view of the Messiah " coming in righteousness to judge and
make war" on all the antichristian powers. Rev. xix, 1—11.
Isaiah speaks next of the days of refreshing which shall follow those
days of vengeance, which shall have such an etfect upon the nations
that they shall flock into the Chvn-ch as pui-sued doves to their windows.
" The Lord (says he to the righteous) shall appear to your joy ; and
those who cast you out for my name's sake shall be ashamed. A voice
of noise from the city ! A voice from the temple ! A voice of the Lord
who rendereth recompense to his enemies !" Now for the effect of these
voices mixed with the sound of the Gospel trumpet : " Before she [the
New Jerusalem] travailed, she brought forth : befoi'e her pain came she
was delivered. Shall the earth be made to bring forth in a day, or shall
a nation be born at once ? Yes, saith the Lord. Shall I bring to the birth
and not cause to bring forth? saith thy God. [It is done !] Rejoice ye
with Jei'usalem, ye that love her : be glad with her, ye that mourned for
her. Come, that ye may suck and be satisfied with the brensts of her
consolations : that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abun-
dance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I extend peace to
her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles, [converted,] like a flow-
SOCINIAXISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 523
ing stream. Tlien shall ye suck ; ye shall be borne on her sides and
dandled on her knees : as one whom his mother comlbrteth, so will I
comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem : your hearts shall
rejoice, and your bones shall flourish, when ye thus see the hand of the
Lord toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies," Isa.
Ixvi, 5-14. The dawn of this " day of refreshing" was seen in the
earthly Jerusalem, when three thousand and five thousand people
entered at once into the New Jerusalem, the holy Church, the spiritual
" kingdom, which is righteousness, peace, and joy, through the Holy
Ghost, in whose comfort they walked, when great grace was upon
them all."
Isaiah points out these days of the Messiali in so many ways, that you
will excuse me, sir, if I copy one more of his striking pictures : — " Be-
hold," says he, " the Lord [Jehovah our Saviour] will come with fire,
and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire : for by fire, and by his sword, will
the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many."
What follows is his last description of the days of refreshing, which Je-
hovah Shiloh wdfl usher in by the destruction of the wicked. " It shall
come to pass that [after those days of vengeance] I will gather all na-
tions and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. I will send
my heralds, those that shall escape [from the great tribulation] unto the
nations and to the isles afar oflT, w hich have not heard my fame ; and
they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. As the new heavens
and the new earth, which I will then make, so shall your seed and your
nam^ remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to
another, shall all flesh come [by turns ' to my holy mountain Jerusalem']
and shall worship before me, says the Lord : and they shall go forth [to
the valley of Jehoshaphat] and look upon the carcasses of the men that
have transgressed against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall
their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence of all flesh," Isa.
Ixvi, 15-24. Here ends Isaiah's account of that glorious reign of Jeho-
vah Shiloh, which the fathers called the millennium, as being to last a
thousand years, and during which it is probable that our Lord will use
these extraorduiary means to keep all the nations in the way of obedience.
(1.) A constant display of his goodness over all the earth, but particularly
in and about Jerusalem, where the Lord will manifest his glory, and bless
his happy subjects with new manifestations of his presence every Lord's
day and every new moon. (2.) A distinguished interposition of Provi-
dence, which will withhold the Messiah's wonted blessings from the
disobedient : " For it shall be that whoso will not come up, of all the
famihes of the earth, unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of
hosts, even upon them shall be no rain," Zech. xiv, 27. (3.) The con-
stant endeavours of the saints, martyrs, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles,
raised from the dead, and conversing with men, as Moses and Elijah did
with our Lord's disciples upon the moimt, where they were indulged
with a view of his glorified person, and of his " kingdom come with
power." These glorified high priests and kings, as ministers and heute-
nants of the Messiah, will rule all Churches and states with unerring
wisdom and unwarped fidelity. (4.) The care that the Lord himself
will take to set apart for the ministry under his glorified saints, those
524 SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL.
who in every nation shall distinguish themselves for their virtue and
piety. This seems to be the meaning of his own words : " And when
they shall come out of all nations to my holy mountain, I will take of
them for priests and Levites, saith the Lord," speaking to the prophet
in the language of the Jewish Church, Isa. Ixvi, 20, 21. (5.) A stand-
ing display of the ministration of condemnation, as appears fi'om Isa. Lxvi,
24, above quoted, and from other parallel scriptures.
6. At the same time that the ministration of condemnation will power-
fully work upon the fears of mankind to keep men in the way of duty,
an occasional display of the ministration of righteous mercy will work
upon their hopes. How will those hopes be fired when they shall "see
the Lamb of God standing on the Mount Sion, and with him his hundred
and forty.four thousand worthies, having his Father's name [Divine
majesty, irresistible power, ineffable love, and bliss inexpressible] written
on their foreheads !" Rev. xiv. But,
7. What will peculiarly tend to keep men from relapsing into re-
beUion against God, will be the long life of the godly, and the untimely
death of those who shall offer to tread the paths of iniquity. The godly
shall attain to the years of the antediluvian patriarchs, and the wicked
shall not Uve out half their days, they shall not live above a hundred
years, or, to speak after our manner, they shall die in their childhood.
This seems to be Isaiah's meaning in the following description of the
days of refreshing : " Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth ;
and the former shall not be remembered. But be you glad and rejoice
for ever in that which I create : for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoic-
ing, and her people [to be nothing but a] joy. And I will rejoice in
Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more
be heard in her : there shall be no more thence [a burial of] an infant
of days, nor [a godly] old man that hath not filled his days : for the
child shall die a hundred years old, but the sinner being a hundred years
old shall be accursed. And it shall come to pass that before they call I
will answer, and while they are speaking I will hear." The very beasts
of the field will partake of the happiness and glorious liberty of the sons
of God : for " the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion
shall eat straw like the bullock, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all
my holy mountain, saith the Lord," Isa. lxvi, 17-25.
Having dwelt so long upon the account which the evangelical prophet
gives us of the day of vengeance, and of the days of refreshing, I shall
dismiss this part of the subject by giving two or three shoit extracts from
some of the remaining prophets.
Daniel fixes, in the days of Messiah the Prince, the great tribulation
which shall come upon the ungodly, of which the destruction of Jerusa-
lem was but an emblem ; God's judgments beginning at his own house.
And when the Messiah shall thus have sitten in judgment, and shall
have consumed and destroyed the wicked, or bruised the serpent's head
in the person of antichrist and his adherents, " the kingdom under the
whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High,"
of Jehovah Shiloh, " whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom ; and all
dominion shall serve and obey him," according to the decree recorded
in Psalm ii, 7; Dan. vii, 26, 27.
Joel also describes, in the most lively manner, the work of the Mas-
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 525
siah, both as he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the peaceful
Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people shall be. Speaking of our
Lord under the tirst of these characters, he says : "In those days, when
I shall bring again the captivity of Judah, I will also gather all nations,
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat,* [the valley
of judgment,] and I will plead with them there for my people, whom
they have scattered. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen.
Come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat ; for there will I sit to judge all
the heathen, [saith the Son, the mighty God, to whom all judgment is
committed, as he is Son of man.] Put yc in the sickle, for the harvest
is ripe, the press is full, the fats overflow, the wickedness [of the earth]
is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision : for the day
of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The Lord also shall
roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the hea-
vens and the earth shall shake :" for, as the apostle expresses it, in
speaking of our Lord, " He hath promised, saying. Yet once more, I
shake not the earth only, but also heaven," Hebrews xii, 26 ; Joel iii,
1, 2, 11, 16.
As Joel hath thus described the Messiah as Son of David, shaking
and destroying his adversaries, the wicked, so he represents him also as
Son of Solomon, procuring days of peace and prosperity to the Israel
of God. Be glad, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your
God, " for the Lord will do great things" for you. Fear not, for " who-
soever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered ;" for " in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance." Egypt shall be a
desolation ; " and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for their violence
against Judah : but Judah shall dwell for ever, and [the new] Jerusalem
from generation to generation : for I will cleanse their blood which I
have not cleansed, for the Lord [Jehovah Shiloh] dwelleth in Zion."
And the pi'ophet describes the means of this cleansing, in this noted
promise, " I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy," 6ic. A capital promise this, of which
our Lord gave an earnest on the day of pentecost, when he sent a gr<i-
cious shower on his little vineyard, as a pledge of the mighty rivers of
righteousness which will, by and by, cover the earth as the waters cover
the sea, Joel ii, 21-28, and iii, 19-21.
Should you deny, sir, that the Lord, who will thus roar out of Sion,
and then pour out his Spirit on all flesh, is the Messiah, " the mighty
God" described by Isaiah, I prove it by the following reasons, which I
entreat you never to forget. (1.) The bruising of the serpent's head
belongs to the wonderful seed of the woman, to the child born to us,
whose name is " the mighty God," and not to " the Father, who hath
committed all judgment unto the Son." If you deny this, sir, you not
only represent Christ as a mere man, but as a man who rcnoimces one
of the Messiah's titles, which is " the true and faithful Witness ;" for he
hath expressly laid down, in John, the proposition on which I built my
argument. (2.) 'l^ie nineteenth chapter of the Revelation contains a
description of the strange work in the place which Joel calls the " valley
of decision," or of Jehoshaphat ; and that terrible work is there declared
* Tiie word Jeliosliapliat means, " God ia the Judge," or the judgment of God,
526 SOCINIAMSM U^SCKIPTURAL.
by St. John to be specially the work of the Son, whom he calls " the
Word of God." {'S.) Joel promises that " whosoever shall call on the
name of the Lord shall be delivered ;" and St. Paul, in Rom. x, 12, 13,
applies the words to our Lord Jesus Christ, as appears from the apos-
tie's doctrine in Rom. i, 16, and Acts xvi, 31. (4.) The Lord, who iii
Joel acts the part of a deliverer, is " the Lord" who " shall call the rem-
nant" of the Jews, and shall at last reconcile Jews and Gentiles in him-
self; and therefore is indubitably the Shiloh, unto whom the gathering
of the people shall be : compare Joel ii, 32, with Genesis xlix, 10.
And (5.) "The Lord who dwelleth in Zion," and who cleanseth the
blood and sins of mankind by pouring out his Spirit upon all flesh, is
certainly the Messiah, or Jehovah Shiloh, to whom the very words of
Joel are applied by St. Peter, in Acts ii, 16, 38.
Hoping, sir, that you will not lose sight of these five arguments, I
proceed to show you how some of the other lesser prophets speak of the
Messiah's days of vengeance, and of refreshing.
Amos, as the other prophets, shows the apostasy of the Church,
foretells her sifting punishment, her preservation during the great tribu-
lation, and the day of vengeance, in which " God with us," the Messiah,
will destroy all the wicked.
When the Church shall thus have been cleansed, and the wicked de-
stroyed, the times of refreshing will come, which are thus foretold by
this'prophet. " In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that
is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins,
and I will build it as in the days of old," as in the days of Solomon, a
type of the Prince of Peace, who is the mighty God, the Lord of David
as well as his Son. Then shall the prosperity of God's people keep
pace with their righteousness, and overflow their peaceful habitations.
Thev " shall possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, who
are called by my name, saith the Lord who doth this ; then shall the
ploughman overtake the reaper, and the treader of the grapes him that
soweth the seed, and the mountains shall drop sweet wine. I will bring
again the captivity of my people Israel, and plant them in their own
land [rendered like the garden of Eden :] and they shall no more be
pvdled out of it, saith the Lord God ;" Emmanuel, the Shiloh, to whom
shall be the gathering of the converted nations, Amos ix, 11, d:c.
Micah thus speaks of the second coming of the Messiah to do this
strange work as Lion of the tribe of Judah : " Hear, all the people,
hearken, O earth, and let the Lord God be witness against you (irom his
holy temple. Behold, the Lord will come down and tread upon the high
places of the earth : the mountains shall be molten under him as wax
before the lire, and the valleys shall be cleft," Micah i, 2-4. P>ut this
terrible judgment shall begin at the house of the Lord, even at Zion and
Jerusalem. " Hear, ye heads of the house of Jacob, that pervert all
equity, and say, Is not the Lord among us ? No evil can come upon
us ! Zion, for your sake, shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem
ishall become heaps," Micah iii, 11, 12.
When the Lord's people shall have borne his indignation, Shiloh will
gather the purified remnant of them, and use them as his glorious instru-
ments for the conversion, or the punishment of the wicked : " 1 will
surely gather the remnant of Israel, 1 will put them together as the
SOCINIANISM UNSCKIPTUKAL. 527
flock in the midst of the fold. The breaker [the bruiser of the serpent]
is come up before them ; their king shall pass before them, and the Lord
[Jehovah] on the head of them, to redeem them liom the hand of their
enemies," Micah ii, 12 ; iv, 10.
The Messiah's strange work in the valley of decision is thus described
by this prophet : " Many nations are gathered against thee, O Zion, who
say. Let her be defiled. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord,
neither understand tliey his counsel ; tor he shall gather them as the
sheaves into the floor. Arise and tlu'esh, 0 daughter of Zion : for I will
make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces
many people," Micah iv, 11-13.
After this day of vengeance the days of refreshing shall come, and
they are thus foretold b}' Micah, who had the brightest discoveries of
the glory of Shiloh, and of the gathering of the people unto him, after
the destruction of the antichristian powers. But " in the last days,"
saith that prophet, " the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be esta-
bhshed in the top of the mountains ; people shall How unto it, and many
nations [both awed by the Lord's tremendous judgments, and encouraged
by his offers of grace and pardon] shall come, and say, Come, let us go
up to the mountam of the Lord, and he will teach us his ways, and we
will walk in his paths : for the law [of the spirit of lite in Christ Jesus
making men free from the law of sin and death] shall go forth of Zion,
and the v\ord of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he [Jehovah Shiloh]
shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off, and
they shall beat their swoi'ds into plough shares, and their spears into
pruning hooks : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more : but they shall sit every man under his
^"ine, and none shall make them afraid : for the moutli of" the Lord of
hosts hath spoken it : and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount
Zion, from henceforth even for ever," Mic. iv, 1-7.
That the Lord Jehovah, who shall thus reign in Mount Zion, when all
spears shall be beat into plough shares and into pruning hooks, is our Mel-
chisedec, the King of Salem, the Solomon of the Christian Church, "the
Prince of Peace, whose name is called the mighty God," by Isaiah, and
" of whose government and peace, upon the throne of David, there shall
be no end," can be proved even to a Jew by the following reasons : —
(1.) This Divine King is described as doing the things which chai'acter-
ize the Messiah, namely, bruising the serpent, destroying the wicked,
gathering Israel, and reigning over the nations : for " imto him shall the
gathering of the people be." (2.) Micah calls him the " Ruler of Israel,"
the Messiah, and describes his human and Divine nature as clearly as
does Isaiah : " Thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among the thou-
sands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth He that is to be ruler in
Israel, [here we see the child boi'n unto us in Bethlehem,] whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting." And in these last
words we behold the eternal generation and divinity of the Son of God,
Mic. V, 2. And that Herod himself, with the Jewish priests and the
scribes, made no doubt but this pro[)hecy related to the Messiah, is evi-
dent from the account given by St. ^latthe\v : lor when King Herod had
heard that " the King of the Jews was born," and when he " had gather-
ed the chief priests," <Sic, by quoting this very prophecy of Micah, they
528 SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL.
proved to him, that the Messiah, he " whose goings forth have been
from everlasting," was to be born at Bethlehem.
The Prophet Habakkuk, in that sublime hymn called his prayer, has
many expressions very descriptive of the days of vengeance. " God
came from Teman (says he) and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His
glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Before
him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He
stood and measured the earth : he beheld and drove asunder the
nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual
hills did bow : his ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in
affliction ; and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. The
mountains saw thee, and they trembled : the deep uttered his voice,
and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in
their habitation. Thou didst march through the land in indignation,
thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the sal-
vation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed. Thou didst
wound the head out of the house of the wicked." And as the prophet
considers these desolating judgments as being pi'eparatory to the salva-
tion of God's people, so, speaking in the name of the whole Church, he
describes the greatness of that salvation, when he says, a few verses
after, " Although the fig tree should not blossom, and there should be no
fruit in the vine ; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, 1 will joy in the God of
my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my
feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me walk upon mine high places."
For, as he assures us in the preceding chapter, "The earth shall be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea," a passage which contains a most glorious testimony to the
days of refreshing, during which, as Isaiah bears witness, " the people
shall be all righteous, the work of his hands, and the branch of his
planting, that he may be glorified."
Zephaniah is very express upon this subject. Having described, at
large, in the first and second chapters of his prophecy, the ruin that
should come upon Judea, and the neighbouring countries, he pi'oceeds,
chap, iii, 3, to foretell the vengeance that should come upon all nations.
♦' Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the
prey : for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assem-
ble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my
fierce anger : for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my
jealousy. Tlien will I turn to the people a pure language, that they
may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, the daughter of my
dispersed, shall bring mine offering. The remnant of Israel shall not do
iniquity, nor speak lies ; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their
mouth : for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them
afraid." In prospect of this glorious time, the prophet calls upon the
Church under the ancient name of Zion, Jerusalem, and Israel, to break
forth in praise to Jehovah the Redeemer, who will then be indeed " Em-
manuel, God with us. Sing, O daughter of Zion : shout, O Israel : he
glad and rejoice with all thine heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The
Lord hath taken away thy judgments : he hath cast out thine enemy :
the King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee : thou shalt see
SOCIMANISM UNSCRIPTUKAL. 529
evil no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not ;
and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the
midst of thee is mighty : he will save : he will rejoice over thee with
joy ; he will rest in liis love : he will joy over thee with suiging. Be-
hold at that time, (adds the Lord,) I will undo all that afflict thee, and I
will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I
will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put
to shame. At that time I will bring you again, even the time that I
gather you, tor I will make you a name and a praise among all people
of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the
Lord." Now, sir, who is this King of Israel that is in the midst of us
and is mighty, and who declares he will save, but the " Word made
flesh, that dwelt among us, and came to save his people from their sins?"
Zechariah speaks to the same purpose. In the second chapter, hav-
ing mentioned the vengeance that should be taken upon the Babylonians
and other nations, that had spoiled God's people of old, an emblem of
wrath that will be poured upon the modern Babylon, he describes the
days of refreshing in the following words : — " Sing and rejoice, O daugh-
ter of Zion. For, lo ! I come, and dwell in the midst of thee, saith the
Lord : [this seems to refer primarily to the coming of Christ in the flesh :]
and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, [viz. the Gen-
tile nations,] and shall be my people. And I will dwell in the midst of
thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
And the Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion in the holy land, and shall
choose Jerusalem again ;" which plainly foretells the conversion of the
Jews, and their restoration to their own land. And, perhaps, the follow-
ing words, " Be silent all flesh before the Lord, for he is raised up out
of his holy habitation," may be intended as an intimation of the conver-
sion of all mankind, their attendance upon the Lord in his ordinances,
and their worshipping him in spirit and in truth.
Malachi, also, the last of the prophets, foretells, and that with great
clearness, this two- fold work of the Messiah. Having pointed him out
as " the Lord that should come to his temple, the messenger of the
covenant, in whom (to be shortly revealed) the pious Jews delighted,
rejoicing, like faithful Abraham, in the foresight of his day ;" he next
informs us what would be the effect of his manifestation in our flesh.
" But who," says he, " may abide the day of his coming ? And who
shall stand when he appeareth ? For he is like refiner's fire, and like
fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, [and by
the spirit of judgment, as well as spirit of burning,] he shall purify the
sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Then the times of refresh-
ing shall succeed the days of vengeance, " and the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
and as in the former years." For while the Lord comes " near to
judgment," and is a " swift witness against the sorcerers, and against
the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress
the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn
away the stranger from his right, and fear not the Lord ;" they that fear
him " speak often one to another, and the Lord hearkens and hears, and
a book of remembrance is written for those that fear the Lord and think
Vol. III. 34
530 50CIN1AMS3I DNSCRIl^Tl/RAL.
upon liis name ; and they shall be mine, saith the Lord, m the day when
I make up my jewels. Then shall ye turn and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between him that seiTeth God, and him that
serveth him not." And he speaks more clearly still in the next (the last)
chapter. He first describes the days of vengeance. " Behold, the day
cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, and all that do
wickedly, shall be as stubble : the day cometh that shall burn them up,
and leave them neither root nor branch." He then foretells the days
of refreshing which shall succeed. " But unto you that fear my name^
shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye
shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread
down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in
the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts."
Now, sir, he before whose face Jehovah's messenger, John the
Baptist, was sent, and before whom he cried, " Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make his paths straight ;" he who suddenly comes to his
temple, and, appearing in it as the Desire of all nations, gives it a glory,
such as even Solomon's temple had not, though beside the splendour and
magnificence of the wonderful fabric, overlaid with silver and gold, it
had five signs of the Divine presence, as the Jews themselves have
acknowledged, which were wanting in tliis second temple, viz. the l^rim
and Thummim, by which the high priest was miraculously instructed in
tlie will of God ; the " ark of the covenant," containing the two tables
of the law written with the fiiiger of God ; the " fire upon the altar,"
which came down from heaven ; the " shekinah," or visible display of
the Divine glory, and the " Spirit of prophecy." He, who is like
refiner's fire and fuller's soap, and who sits upon the souls of men, as a
refiner and purifier of silver, purifying them from all pollution of flesh
and spirit : he who comes near, by his spiritual presence, as a swift
witness against sinners of every description, while as the " Sun of right-
eousness" he rises upon those that fear the name of the Lord, with
healing in his wings, so that they go forth and grow up as calves of the
stall : he surely must be more than a mere man. Leaving you to
reflect, sir, on the contrariety of your doctrine, to that of the prophets,
I remain, &c.
LETTER VI.
Tlie testimony borne by the prophets to the Godhead of Christ.
Rev. Sin, — How could you assert that none of the prophets gave the
Jews any other idea of the Messiah, than that of a man like Ihemsehes,
when Isaiah had given him names which are above every name, that at
the names of our Saviour every knee should bow, andcveiy beheving Jew
sliould confess that the Messiah is Lord God omnipotent ? Had you
forgotten this prophetic exultation : " Unto us the child is born, imto us
the son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders : and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty (iod, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace?" Isa. ix, 6.
V'our assertion is so much the more astonishing, as Isaiah in other
places speaks of the Messiah in terms as magnificent. Take two or
SOCINI.VJIISM UNSCRIPTtrKAL. 531
three instances. That prophet describes the Messiah's liumanity as
a branch growing out of the roots of Jesse, as a holy Prince which shall
judge with righteousness, reprove with equity, smite the earth with the
rod of his mouth, slay the wicked with the breath of his lips, and so per-
fectly restore peace in the earth, that they shall not hurt nor destroy in
all Iris holy mountain, or happy dominions, where even the Gentiles
shall enjoy a glorious rest : " for the adversaries of Judah shall be cut
off, and Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor shall Judah vex Ephraim ;
and the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea,''
Isa. xi, 1, &c. After this description of the Messiah, the Son of God
manifested as Son of David and Jesse, to destroy the works of the devil,
and to reign with his ancients gloriously, the prophet, in the name of
the Church, sings, beforehand, a song of thanksgiving to God our
Saviour, for these mighty achievements. In that day (says he) thou
shalt say, The work of redemption is finished : " Behold, God is my
salvation, the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; he is become
my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells
of salvation. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things.
Cry out, and shout, thou inhabitant of Sion, for great is the Holy One
of Israel in the midst of thee," Isa. xii, 1, &c. It was impossible for a
spiritual Jew to read this description of the Messiah's peaceful kingdom,
without seeing that this root of Jesse, this Holy One of Israel, so great
in the midst of Zion, was the same wonderful person whom the prophet
had just before called the " Son given," and the " mighty God." And
our Lord gave the Jews an assurance of if, when he cried, on the great
day of the feast, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
And this he did when they had just been singing (as they did at that
feast) those words of Isaiah : " You shall draw with joy water out of the
wells of salvation ;" plainly intimating to them, as he had done to the
woman of Samaria, that he was the Divine spring of our joy, the Holy
One of Israel m the midst of us, and the Jehovah become our salvation,
and sung by Isaiah.
The same prophet, personating John the Baptist, and foretelling the
coming of the Messiah, says : " The voice of him that crieth in the wil-
derness, Prepare ye the way of (he Lord, [the way of Jehovah ;] make
straight in the desert a high way for our God. Every valley shall be
exalted, and every mountain shall be made low, and the rough places
plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. O Zion, that
bringest good tidings, [or, as the bishop of London reads h, O thou that
hringest good tidings to Zion, O thou that publishest the Gospel,'\ lift up
thy voice with strength, hft it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of
Judah, Behold your God ! Behold, the Lord God will come with a
strong hand, his reward is with him, and his work before liim," Isa.
xl, 3, 10. This pompous description of the Messiah is again and again
apphed to our Lord in the New Testament. If Isaiah says to the cities
of Judah, " Behold your God," John the Baptist crietli to them, " Behold
the Lamb of God !" If the Lord God says, (by his prophet,) " Behold,
(lie Lord will come, his reward is with him, ^c : thus saith the Lord,
the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the First
and the Last, and beside ine there is no God," Isa. xl, 10, and xliv, 6 ;
our Lord applyhig to himself these lofty expressions of Isaiah, saith.
632 SOCIMAMSM LNSORIPTCRAL.
*' Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give ever\' man
according as his work shall be : I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last," Rev. xxii, 12, 18.
And if the Jews had not the New Testament, they had a number of
prophecies which confirmed and explained each other. Thus, suppose
pious Jews would Imow who that God was, for whom they were to
make the highway straight, and the rough places plain, Isaiah xi, 3, they
needed only read on to the eleventh verse, where we find this additional
description of him : " He shall feed his Hock like a shepherd, he shall
gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall
gently lead those that are big with young." And if they had not the
Gospel of St. John, where our Lord says, " I am the good Shepherd,"
they had the prophecy of Zechariah, where this Divine Shepherd is thus
described : " Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man
who is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the Shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered," Zech. xiii, 7, and Matt, xxvi, 31. And they
saw in Isaiah how it pleased the Lord to bruise this Shepherd, when he
made his soul an oftering for sin ; how he was wounded for our transgres-
sions, and bnused for our iniquities ; how all we like sheep have gone
astray, and how the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isa. liii, 5,
6, 10. They had the prophecy of Ezekiel, where this great Shepherd
is thus described : " I will save my flock, I will set one shepherd over
them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them,
and he shall be their shepherd: I the Lord have spoken it. And they
shall no more be prey to the heathen, neither shall the beasts of the land
devour them, but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them
afraid," Ezekiel xxxiv, 22, &c. They had this prediction of Hosea :
" The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and Nvith-
out a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an ejihod : afterward
they shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king,
and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days," Hosea
iii, 4.
From these consentaneous prophecies the spiritual Jews saw, that the
Messiah, their king, would appear both as the wonderful child pi'omised
to David, and as " the mighty God," called sometimes " the Lord of
hosts," and sometimes " the fellow of the Lord of liosts," according to
the description which St. John gave afterward of him : " In the begin-
ning he was with God, and he was God ; and we have seen his glorj^
which is the glory of the only begotten of the Father, [made flesh, and
dwelUng among us,] full of grace and truth."
The Jews met some of these shining descriptions of the Messiah, as
ofl^en as they searched the oracles of God ; the Holy Ghost having
taken care to multiply them, that the unbelieving m all ages might be
without excuse.
Moses saith : " The sceptre shall not depart from Judaii until Shiloh
come : unto him shall the gathering of the people be," (ren. xlix, 10.
Now the spiritual Jews, wanting to know who this Shiloh should be, did
not fail to read over the other prophets sent to enlarge upon this promise
recorded by Moses, and they found this parallel description of the days
of the Messiah : " In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people : to it shall the Gentiles seek : and the
SOCI^flAMSM UNSCRIPTURAI,, 533
Lord [Jehovah] shall set his hand the second time, [a plain account of the
restoration of the Jews !] to recover the remnant of his people, and he
shall set up an ensigia for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
Israel from the four corners of the earth," Isa. xi, 10, &c.
Haggai confirms this prophecy, where he writes : " Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, I will yet once more shalie the sea and the dry land ; I
will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will
fill this house [the temple of Jerusalem] with glory, saith the Lord of
hosts. The glory of this latter house [built by Zerubbabel] shall be
greater than of the former, [built by Solomon,] saith the Lord of hosts.
And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts," Haggai ii,
6-10. If a Jew inquired who this ^^ desire of nations," this Shiloh,
should be, who was to come and fill the second temple with his glory,
David gratifies this pious wish, where he says, " Lift up your heads, O
ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King of gloiy
shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and
mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. The Lord of hosts, he is the King
of glory," Psalm xxiv, 7, &c.
But how could this King of glory be " a prophet like Moses, raised to
the Jews from among their brethren?" Deut. xviii, 18. Moses and
Isaiah solve this ditficulty ; the former, where he saith, " The seed of
the woman shall [be strong enough to] bruise the serpent's head ;" and
the latter, where he declares, " The Lord himself shall give you a sign :
behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Emmanuel," which, being interpreted, is " God with us, God manifested
in the flesh," Isa. vii, 4 ; Matt, i, 23, and 1 Tim. iii, 16.
Read, dear sir, the Scriptui-es without the veil of your system, and you
will see that the Messiah, the wonderful person whom you so constantly
endeavour to degrade, was to be a mediating prophet, like Moses ; an
atoning priest, like Aaron ; a pacijic Jang, like Solomon ; a royal prophet,
like David ; a kingly priest, like Melchisedec ; the everlasting Father, as
the Logos, by whom all things were created ; and the mighty God, as the
proper Son of him, with whom he shares, in the imity of the Divine
Spirit, the supreme title of Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
Jeremiah gives us as noble a view of the Messiah: " Behold (says he)
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch ; a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute justice in the
earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely ;
and this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord [Jehovah]
our righteousness," Jer. xxiii, 5. Pious Jews could not but see that
the " righteous King" of David's family, who was promised by Jere-
miah, was the same as the " Prince of Peace" sitting upon " David's
throne," who would extend his peaceful government to the end of ages,
according to Isaiah's prophecy ; and both prophets agree to call this
wonderful King "Jehovah, the mighty God."
If Isaiah, speaking of him, and predicting our Lord's incarnation,
saith, " A virgin shall bear a son ;" Jeremiah, alluding to the same mys-
tery, says, " The Lord createth a new thing in the earth, a woman shall
compass a man. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
make a new covenant with Israel : I will put my laws in their hearts,
they shall all know me: I will forgive their iniquity," Jer. xxxi, 22, 3L
S34 SOCINIANISM tJNSCRlPTURAL.
And that these pardons shall come by believing in the righteous '' branch
raised unto David," who shall be called " the Lord our righteousness,"
appears from the descrij)tion which the same prophet gives us of the
Church made all glorious, by partaking of that sanctifying Spirit, which
makes believers look at Christ's glorious righteousness, till they are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory. " In those days
(saith he) Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and
this is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteous-
ness," Jer. xxxiii, 10. As if he had said, Every one who shall come to
Zion, and the New Jerusalem, shall be so grafted in the righteous branch
raised unto David, and so filled with the sap of that Divine tree of life,
that they shall in some degree bo transformed into it, and be called by the
same name, as a wife is called l)y the name of her husband. And, me-
thinks, I see this glorious prophecy accomplished, when I find believers
so christened, so completely united to Christ, as to be righteous as he is
righteous. Of this stamp was certainly he who said, I "will know
nothing but Christ, and him crucified ; I live not, it is Christ who liveth
in me ; and the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp-
tion," Gal. ii, 20, and 1 Cor. i, 30.
Ezekiel. Our Lord's divinity is not so fully declared by Ezekiel as
by Jeremiah : glorious hints of it may, nevertheless, be collected from
liis writings, if they are searched for, with the light supplied by the
harmony of the Scriptures.
I need not inform you, reverend sir, that till the end come, the Father
hath committed all authority and judgment to the Son, John v, 22, and
that the Father will gloriously reign on the earth in and by his Son, his
other self: or the express image of his glory ; for you have read these
words of a prophet: " I saw in the night visions, and beholil one like the
Son of man came with the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days, and
there was given him [as he is Son of man] dominion and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him : his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass awa}' : and
his kingdom, that which shah not be destroyed :" though he will, in a
future period of time, " give it up to the Father," and then the Son shall
only reign in the Father, Dan. vii, 13. But it is proper to remind yon
that Emmanuel (being both "the mighty God," and "the child born" to
bruise " the serpent's head,") may be considered sometimes as God, or
proper Son of God the Father, and sometimes as man, or proper son of
a woman; and in either case he bears very different names. (L) As
proper Son of God the Father, he is called " Jehovah, liord of liosts,
God our Redeemer," «Stc. (2.) As son of a virgin, he is called a branch
of Jesse, David, son of David^ son of man, and servant of (Jod," be-
cause he is eqtially obedient to the connnands of the l-'ather, the will of
the Logos, and the motions of the Holy Ghost: and, (3.) when he is
considered in his complex nature, as being the proper Son of (iod, and
the real son of Mary, wonderfully united in the person of the Messiah,
he is called " Emmanuel, God manifested in the flesh, the Word made
flesh, or Jehovah Shepherd."
This being premised, you will understand me, sir, if I observe, that
Ezekiel declares the glory of the Messiah considered hi these three dif-
socixiAXisM TJ^■scll^PTrRAL. 5S5
ferent points of view. Thus he represents God our Saviour as Jehovah
Shepherd, where he says: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I,
will search out my sheep: As a shepherd seeketh out his scattered
flock, so will I seek out my sheep, and will gather them from the coun-
tries where they have been scattered in the cloudy day : and I will feed
them in a good pasture, upon the mountains of Israel ; I will seek that
which was lost, bring again that which was driven away, bind that which
was broken, strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat
and the strong [the stubborn and the proud.] Behold, saith the I^rd
God, I judge between the sheep and the goats," Ezek. xxxiv, 11-17.
Now, reverend sir, that this Jehovah Shepherd is Emmanuel, I prove
to you both from the Old and the New Testament. (1.) From the New,
where our Lord, applying to himself these very words of God in Ezekiel,
says : " When the Son of man shall come in his glory [in the glory of
the Godhead into which he hath been assumed] he shall separate the
sons of men one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats :" and (2,) from the Old Testament : for, in this very chapter of
Ezekiel under consideration, we see God our shepherd pointing out to
us the Divine obedient man, in whom he condescended to become visible,
and whom he calls his servant, because Christ, as son of David, is as
perfectly obedient to the Father, and to the Word, considered as David's
Lord, as in a good man the body is perfectly obedient to the dictates of
the rational sovd to which it is united. For in the complex person of
our Lord, God and man is one Christ. " I will save my flock, saith
Jehovah Shepherd, they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge be-
tween cattle and cattle." But will he do it as invisible God, or by means
of a Mediator, a man in whom he will become visible? Here the Lord
answers by Ezekiel, who thus points out the humamfy, as he had before
asserted the divinity of our Lord : " And I will set up one Shepherd over
them, even my servant David : he shall be their [visible] shepherd.
And I the Lord will lie their God, and my servant David, a [visible]
prince among them, 1 the Lord have spoken it." And the Lord that
speaks here is the Logos, the Word of the Father, the Word of the
Lord which came to the prophets, and manifested to them the will of the
Father by the Holy Spirit : for so intimately one are the Father and the
Son that the Son can do nothing of himself (as if he were divided from
the Father) but what things soever the Father doth, these also the Son
doth likewise, John v, 19, and Ezekiel xxxiv, 22, &c.
The Jehovah Shepherd and Feeder, whom Ezekiel declared in the
twenty-fourth chapter of his prophecy, is next extolled as JeJwvah, Svb-
dner, and Purifier.
Thus saith the I^ord God to the house of Israel : " I will gather you
out of all countries, and then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and
cleanse you from all filthiness and all your idols. A new heart will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and cause you to walk
in my statutes, [or to be my faithtid and obedient subjects,] and ye shall
be my [happy] people."
Now, reverend sir, that the Lord will thus subdue and purify Israel,
in and by a Mediator, in whom he will become visible, and by whom he
will operate all the wonders here promised, I prove both from the New
t«nd Old Testament. (1.) From the New : Jolui the Baptist, pointing
536 socmiANisM itnscriptural.
out this Divine purifier, said, as he showed our Lord, " Behold the Lamb
of God, who taketh away the sin of the world ; I indeed baptize you
with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost :" he shall
pour out the Spirit promised by Ezekiel, John i, 29, 33. From the Old
Testament : for we read in the next chapter of Ezekiel : " Thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I will gather the children of Israel on every side,
and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation,
and one King shall reign over them all. Neither shall they defile them-
selves any more with idols, nor with any of their transgressions, but I
will save and cleanse them : so shall they be my people, and I will be
their God, and David [here comes in our Lord considered as Son of man]
my servant shall be king over them, and they all shall have one Shep-
herd, and [by his example and help] they shall walk in my judgments.
And my servant David shall be their prince for ever, and I will set my
sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore," Ezek. xxxvii, 21-26.
And St. John describes this glorious sanctuary, where he saith, " I saw no
temple in the new Jerusalem, lor the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb,"
or Jehovah and the Divine Mediator, in whom he manifests himself, are
"the temple of it," Rev. xxi, 22.
It remains now to show that Ezekiel speaks also of our Lord as Jeho-
vah quickener : nor need I go beyond the chapter last quoted, to find a
reasonable proof of it ; for, in the beginning of that chapter, " the Lord
God" shows to the prophet the deplorable state of corruption and death
in which were mankind in general, and the Jews, in particular, by the
striking emblem of a valley full of diy bones, and " saith to these bones,
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live, and know
that I am the Lord, when I have brought you up out of your graves, and
put my Spirit in you," Ezek. xxvii, 1, 14. If you ask. Will not the
Lord God do this himself immediately ? I answer in the negative, for
three reasons : (1.) Even in the emblematic vision God did not raise the
dry bones till the prophet, who was a type of our great Prophet, had
prophesied to the Spirit, and called for the quickening breath to come
from the four winds that the slain might live, ver. 9 and 10. (2.) Iliis
mediating and quickening Prophet is immediately mentioned, and called
David, the sei-vant of God, and the Prince of the people for ever, ver. 24
and 25. (3.) It could not be the son of Jesse, David, who had been
dead some hundreds of years when Ezekiel prophesied. (4.) It waa
then he, whom Daniel calls Messiah the Prince, and whom the evangelists
name Jesus, the son of David by the Virgin Mary. And (5.) That our
Lord, considered as Son of man, is the wonderful agent of Jehovah
quickener, who dwells in him bodily, is evident from his own words :
" I am come that they might have life, and come that they might have
it more abundantly. I am the resurrection and the life : tbe dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live : for as
the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son
quickeneth whom he will." And this Son of God having joined himself
to our nature, that he might raise us from our fall, is now, and for ever
will be, that Messiah the Prince, whose sufi'erings and glory were foretold
by Daniel, and by Ezekiel, and whom St. Paul calls a quickening Spirit,
and "the Lord from heaven." From these five reasons we may, I think,
safely conclude, that Ezekiel hath foretold the glory of the Messiah, as
SOCEflANISM UN'SCRIPTUEAL. 537
the mighty God, and the child born to us. I have dwelt the longer on
this proof of our Lord's divinity from this prophet, because even good
Mr. Henry says that Ezekiel speaks less of Christ than almost any of the
prophets.
Should you say, sir, that the Jews, not having the proofs which I
adduce from the New Testament, could not possibly find out that the
great Shepherd, who is to gather Israel, and the King of David, who
shall reign over God's people for ever, is more than man : I reply in
the language of our Lord, Search the Old Testament, and you will find
that it testifieth of our Lord's Divine glory.
Do you believe, sir, that all the Jews put a veil upon their faces when
they fathomed the depth of the second Psalm ? Did none make such
obvious remarks as these? (L) Jehovah hath a King, to whom he will
give the heathen [all nations, and the utmost parts of the eaith, all
kingdoms.] (2.) To take counsel against this anointed King, is to take
counsel against Jehovah. (3.) He that sitteth in the heavens shall vex,
in his sore displeasure, those judges of the earth that will not serve him
of whom he saith, " 1 have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion."
(4.) So httle is the Father jealous of the Divine honours paid to his Son,
that he says, even to kings, by the psalmist, " Kiss [adore] the Son,
lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way " of salvation and eternal
bliss. (5.) This Son is not a Son by creation, as Adam was, nor by
adoption, as godly men are, but he is a Son by nature and real commu-
nication of divinity ; for the eternal Father says, " Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee." (6.) The prophet being persuaded that
adoration is due to tliis Son, says, " Kiss him, lest he be angry" at your
mgratitude, injustice, and insolence. (7.) The Father, "declaring his
decree," concerning the proud opposers of his Son's dignity, says, " in
his wrath. Thou shalt break thetn with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash
them in pieces like a potter's vesseL" (8.) So terribly glorious is the
majesty of this Divine Son, that his enemies shall be dashed in pieces
" if his wrath bekindled, yea but a little." But (9.) What convinced the
humble Jews that the IMessiah would have Divine honours paid him by
all the nations, was the conclusion of the Psalm, " Blessed are they that
put their trust in him." For they could not but reason thus, consist,
ently with the Scriptures, on which they " meditated day and night :"
this Son, anointed with so much solemnity. King of kings, and Lord of
the miiverse, must be so intimately one with the Father, as to be one
and the same Jehovah. Were he a mere man, it would be gross idola-
try to rely upon him for salvation ; for, " Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man, and rnaketh flesh his arm ; and whose heart departeth from the
Lord," Jer. xvii, 5, 7. But instead of denouncing such a curse on
every one who trusteth in the Messiah, the prophet declares, by a posi-
tive command, that this wonderful Son is Jehovah : for the law and the
prophets agree to say, " All flesh is grass, trust ye in the Lord Jehovah,
for in him is everlasting strength," Isa. xxvi, 4. From these nine ob-
servations, it is evident, that all the spiritual Jews, who had read the
second Psalm, with humble attention, must be convinced that the Father
had a Divine and everlasting Son, who deserved the name of mighty
God and Father of eternity. Nor were they surprised at this doctrine ;
for (1.) They had looked with reverential feai" into the mystery dimly
538 socrf^Ais^sM VNscRiPTXiRAii.
seen by Solomon, and by Isaiab, wlien they asked, " Wlio shall declare
his generation ? VVlio hath ascended up into heaven, or descended ?
Who hath established the ends of the earth ? What is his name, and
what is his Son's name, it' tliou canst tell ?" Isa. liii, B, and Prov. xxx, 4.
Moses had intimated to them, in the first line of Genesis, that some
diversity of subsistences existed in the unity of the Divine essence : he had
positively declared, that man's creation was the result of the deep conn-
sel of these subsistences : and that, after the fall of man, they [to speak
after the manner of men] again consulted about that sad event. Gen.
i, 1, 26, and iii, 22. And they had reason to think that the Divine sub-
sistence, which their prophets sometimes called "the Word of the Lord,"
and the Son, was that living and active " Wisdom by which (Jod esta-
blished the heavens and founded the earth," and which speaks thus in the
book of Proverbs : " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his
way, before his Avorks of old : I was set up fi'om everlasting : when
there were no depths, I was brought forth : when he prepared the hea-
vens, I was ihere ; I was with him, as one brought up with him : and I
was daily his delight ; rejoicing always before him : and my delights
were with the sons of men," Prov. iii, 19, and viii, 22, &c.
Permit me to lay before you another striking ])roof of the Messiali's
divinity, when he is considered in his form of God. " How beautiful,"
saith Isaiah, (and St. Paul after him,) "how beautiful are the feet of
him that bringeth good tidings, publishcth salvation, and said unto Zion,
Thy God reigneth !" Isa. Iii, 7 ; Rom. x, 15. But who is this King,
this reigning God ? The sacred penmen ansAver, with one accord,
It is the wonderful child born to us, whose name shall be the " mighty
God, and the Prince of Peace," because " of the increase of his govern-
ment and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and jus-
tice for ever," Isa. ix, 7. " Rejoice greatly, O Zion," saith Zechariah,
whose words are echoed by two apostles : " Shout, 0 daughter of Jeru-
salem, behold, thy King Cometh unto thee, he is just, having salvation,
lowly, and riding upon a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall speak peace
to the heathen, and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the
river even to the ends of the earth," Zech. ix, 9, 10, cited in Matt. xxi,.
5, and John xii, 15. When the prophet had thus described the com-
ing of the Messiah, the King, in his state of hu)niliation, he immediately
describes his glorious advent to destroy those who would not have him
to reign over them. " When t have bent Judah for me, (saith tliis Di-
vine King,) and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece,
the Lord [Messiah, the Prince, in his Divine majesty] shall be seen over
them, and his arrows shall go Ibrlh as lightning : the Lord God [head-
ing the sons of Zion] shall blow the trumpet [or give the war-like signal]
and go with whirlwinds of the south [with the most im[)etuous power]
and shall save them in that day, as the flock of his people. For how
great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!" Zech. ix, 13-17.
Though this proof of our Lord's divinity seems to me a demonstra-
tion, I shall, nevertheless, strengthen it still more by parallel testimonies
of the other prophets.
It is not in the second Psalm only, that David declares the divinity of
€hrist, our anointed King. He is not afraid of tautology, when he
SOCIMAMSM UNSCRFPTFRAL. 539
dwells on so glorious a subject. What can be plainer than the forty-
fifth Psalm, which an apostle justly applies to our Lord ? Addressing
the Messiah, emphatically styled the King, the psalmist says, under a
prophetic view of liim, hot!) as the mighty God, and the child born unto
us, " Thou art fairer than the children of men : grace is poured into thy
lips : therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh, O most mighty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously, and thy
right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thy arrows are very sharp
in the heart of the King's enemies. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever ; the sceptre of thy kingdom is a righteous sceptre, therefore God,
thy God [the Father] hath anointed thee [his only begotten Son] \\ith
the oil of gladness, above thy fellows," above all kings on earth, and in
heaven, Psalm xlv, 1-7, compared with Heb. i, 8, 9. Thus you see,
sir, that this " most mighty" King of Israel, and of the universe, is called
God, as well as the Father who hath anointed him.
Nor ought we to wonder, that after such a display of his divinity, tlie
psalmist addresses the Jewish and the universal Church in a strain
suitable to the Divine honours which he pays to the Messiah. Calling
her " daughter," and " queen, all glorious within," whom St. .lohn styles
" the wife of the Lamb : forsake thy own people," says he, [the Egyp-
tians, the Canaanites, the Babylonians, among w horn thou wast born, and
by whom thou hast been corrupted:] "so shall the King greatly desire
thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him." 'J'hen, turning
again to this King of kings, he concludes the psahn by saying, "The
people shall praise thee for ever and ever," Psalm xlv, 10, 17. Thus
you see, sir, that a prophet, considering the Messiah's glory, calls him the
Lord and the God of the Church, whom he charges to worsliip him, and
does solemnly what an apostle did afterward, when, worshijiping CIn-isf,
he cried out in an ecstasy of joy, " My Lord, and my God !" But, what
peculiarly deserves notice is, that when David is about to declare our
Lord's divinity, he begins by saying, " My heart is inditing a good mat-
ter ;" calling that a " good matter" which you call Uhlatry, and the
capital comiplion of our Divine worship.
While you consider how you can reconcile yourself with the royal
prophet, I shall confront your paradox with three other Psalms, where
he continues to indite the same glorious matter, the 47th, 08th, and 1 lOtlu
Prophesying of our Lord's glorious Idngdom, of which he began lo take
possession on the day of his ascension, the psalmist says, " Clap your
hands, all ye people, shout luito God with the voice of triumph. The
Lord most high is terrible : he is King over all the earth. He shall
subdue the people under us. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord
with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises unto our God ; O sing praises
unto our King : for God is the King of all the earth. God rfiigneth over
the heathen : God sitteth upon his holy seat," Psahn xlvii, 1-8. Is it
not evident to those who cancUdly compare scripture with scripture, that
this Divine King, whom the psalmist so often calls God, and who is gone
up with a joyful noise, is the anointed King, of wHom the Father saith,
*' I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion : thou art my Son.
Kiss the Son, ye kings, lest ye perish ?" Is he not the Ahniglity, of
whom the psalmist speaks as follows : " This is God's hill, in which it
pleaseth him to dwell : the chariots of God arc twenty thousand, even
540 socmiAJasM unscripturai..
thousands of angels, and the Lord is among them, as in the holy place
of Sinai. Thou ai't gone up on high, thou hast led capti\ity captive,
and received gifts for men. He is our God, even the God of whom
Cometh salvation — the Lord, by whom we escape death ; who shall
wound the head of his enemies : who gave the word, [on the day of
pentecost,] and great was the company of the preachers," insomuch
that the armies of his enemies were scattered, and they of his household
divided the spoil? Psalm Ixviii, 11-21.
A Jew might be convinced from the bare comparison of those psalms ;
but the conviction will admit of no shadow of doubt for those who re-
ceive the New Testament, where St. Paul, after quoting these words of
David : " Thou [O God, who ' of thy goodness hast prepared gifts for the
poor'] hast ascended up on high, and led captivity captive," &c, appUes
them to our Lord, and concludes thus : " Now, that he [the Messiah]
ascended, what is it [but a demonstration] that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended [as the child bom
unto us] is the same who [after his resurrection] ascended up far above
all heavens, that [as the mightj' God] he might fill all things." And to
prove that he was this gracious God, " out of whose fulness the poor
[humble believers] receive grace for grace, he gave them [beside his
Holy Spirit] apostles, prophets, evangeUsts, pastors, and teachers," that
they might all come to the stature of a perfect man, or " to the measure
of Christ," considered as the Son of man, Eph. iv, 8, 13.
The last Psalm I shall produce in vindication of our Lord's divinity,
is the 110th, where David, still considering him as that mighty God who
became the wonderful seed of the woman, and the Son given unto us,
expresses himself thus : " The Lord [God the Father'^ said unto my
Lord, [to the Son whom he had commanded the Cliurch to worsliip, see
the 45th Psalm above quoted,] Sit thou at my right hand, until I make
thine enemies thy footstool. Rule thou in the midst of them," with the
rod of thy power, that rod of iron which will dash them in pieces " like
a potter's vessel," Psalm ii, 9. "The Lord [who made the decree,
Psalm ii, 7, and at whose right hand thou sittest, as sharer in his supreme
dominion] hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever,
after the order of Melchisedec."
The Father compares here his only begotten Son to Melchisedec for
five reasons. (1.) That monarch was king of Salem, where stood
Mount Sion, a well-known tjpe of that mountain which is to command
all other mountains, or (to speak without metaphor) of that kingdom
which is to swallow up all other kingdoms: see Isa. ii, 2, and Dan. ii, 44.
(2.) Because that prince's name, signifying both King of righteousness,
and King of peace, was the most proper name to give the Jews a true
idea of the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy, which the Mes-
siah, "the Lord our righteousness," was to set up. (3.) Because sacred
history throws a mysterious veil upon the genealogy of Melchisedec,
that he might be a proper type of that " wonderful Prince of Peace,"
whom Isaiah describes, when he asks, " Who shall declare his genera-
tion ?" Who shall show how he is David's Son, and David's Lord ?
A deep mystery this, of which the apostle gives us an idea, when, speak-
ing of the king of Salem, he says. Consider how great this personage
was [the word man is not in the original] unto whom even the patriarch
S0CINIANI6M UN8CRIPTUHAL. 541
Abraliam gave the portion of the high priest, and the capital share of
the spoil, as unto his own king. Tliis prince of peace, " without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor
end of hfe, but made hke unto the Son of God, and abiding a priest con-
tinually," blessed Abraham himself, in whom all the families of the earth
were to be blessed ; and, without contradiction, the less is blessed of the
greater, Heb. vii, 3, &c. (4.) Because as Abraham and his righteous
seiTants, strengthened by Melchisedec's pious wishes, smote the migodly
kings, who had carried away righteous Lot, so the sons of Zion, (to use
the words of Zechariah,) shall smite the sons of Greece when under the
influence, and by the blessing of our Melchisedec, they shall do the
strange, but necessary work, described in Psalm cxlix, and in Rev. xix.
(5.) Because the joyfiil manner in which they were met, refreshed, and
blessed by Melchisedec, was an emblem of those times of refreshing,
which, after the overthrow of all wicked powers, will come from the
presence of the Lord, when all the prisoners of hope, turning to the
strong hold, shall be more than conquerors, through him that loved us ;
shall reap the fruit of the victory described in Zech. ix, 12, 17, and in
2 Thess. i, 5-10 ; and shall enjoy the blessing pointed out in Isa. Ixv,
13, 25 ; Dan. vii, 27 ; 2 Pet. iii, 13, and Rev. xx, 1.
This being premised, I return to the psalm where " Jehovah our
righteousness" is pointed out to us, under the glorious emblein of Mel-
chisedec. David, foretelling the victories of the Messiah, and the de-
struction of his enemies, says : " The Lord at thy [the Father's] right
hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath : he shall act
the part of a judge among the heathen ; he shall fill the places with the
dead bodies ; he shall wound the heads over many countries." But the
heel of the woman's seed shall be bruised, the Piince of Peace shall
sutler in his human nature, which is represented by the inferior part of
his person : "The floods shall overflow him" for three days and three
nights, as they did Jonah, " the waters shall come in, even unto his
soul," he shall drink of the cup of affliction, or as David expresses it,
" he shall diink of the brook by the way, therefore shall he lift up his
head :" his Di^ ine nature shall make him emerge from a sea of sorrow ;
having saved himself, he will save his people ; and as " he bowed his
head," saying, " It is finished," when he had finished his atoning work,
as our great high priest ; so shall he triumphantly " lift up his head'*
and reign. Then will the Church, with all the nations in her bosom,
sing the psalm where David describes the works, and foretells the glory
of Emmanuel : " The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved : he
uttered his voice, [or as Zechariah expresses it, " The Lord God blew
the trumpet," chap, ix, 14,] and the earth melted away: come, behold
the works of the Lord, [of Emmanuel, our Melchisedec, executing judg-
ment among the heathen, and striking through kings in the day of his
wrath," Psalm ex, 4,] see what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He makcth wars to cease unto the end of the earth ; he breaketh the
bow, cutteth the spear in sunder, and bumeth the chariots in the fire."
Emmanuel, Messiah, the mighty God, and Prince of Peace, lifting up
his head, as an almighty Conqueror, and vouchsafing to enter into the
universal song of triumph, says : " Be still and know that I am God : I
will be exalted among the heathen ; I will be exalted in the earth." And
542 SOUINIANlSM UNSCKirxURAL.
ravished with athnaation, the Church, joining in a grand chorus, bursts
into tliis joyful exclamation, " The Lord of hosts is w ilh us, Emmanuel
reigns, and the God of Jacob is our refuge," Psalm xlvi, 1, 11.
Some persons, who mistake an unrighteous weakness of mind, and an
efteminate softness of temper for mildness and charity, will be ready to
think these terrible descrij)tions of our Saviour's judicial work incon-
jsistent w ith the gentleness of our Lord ; but St. John speaks of the
righteous wrath of the Lamb, and when he represents the Messiah as
the bruiser of the serpent's head, he does not scruple to call him " the
Lion of the tribe of Judah ;" alluding to Jacob's prophecy, which fore-
told that Judah, from whose tribe Shiloh was to spring, would be like
the lion, whom none should rouse without imminent danger.
As for St. Paul, he was so far from thinking this judicial work of our
Lord incompatible with his character, that, speaking of the great tribu-
lation of the wicked, and of the righteous judgment which shall make
way for the Messiah's glorious kingdom, he says, " It is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble the right-
eous, and to give rest [even in this world] to those who are troubled by
the wicked." And he observes, that this rest, these times of refreshing
from the Lord, will take place " when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God, [the wicked heathen,] and on them who
obey not the Gospel, [wicked Christians,] who shall be punished with
an everlasthig destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power, when he shall come, [in that day of tribulation,] to be
gloritied in his saints, and admired in all them that telieve."
This work of the niighty God, before the setting of his glorious
emi)ire, as King of Salem, and Prince of Peace, is thus farther described
by a prophet : " The Lord [Jehovah om- Saviour] shall go forth and
fight against those [ungodly] nations : and his feet shall stand in that
day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east."
Then shall be fulfilled the saying of the two angels, on the day of our
Lord's ascension, " This same Jesus who is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner [in a visible, human, and glorious
ibrrn] as ye have seen him go into heaven." And, it is remarkable, that
this prophecy was delivered on that very mount of Olives, whence our
Lord gloriously ascended, and where, according to Zechariah, lie will
alight at his return from heaven. See Acts i, 12, and Zech. xiv, 4.
The prophet, continuing his description of those times of refreshing,
conseiiuent on the return of our Melchiscdec, observes, that many won-
derful interpositions, of a judicial and kind providence, will be displayed
for the presei'vation of the righteous, and for the desti'uction or conver-
sion of the wicked ; and then sums up his prediction, by saying, " In
that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord
of hosts. Holiness unto the Lord shall be w^ritten upon the very bells
of the horses ;" and their drivers, who are now stupid, and profane to a
proverb, will l)c among the saints of the Most Higli. In a word, " the
living waters," the streams of truth, righteousness, peace, and bliss,
which gladden the city of God, the city of the great king, " shall go out
from Jerusalem," and gladden the whole world ; for the Lord [that very
Jehovah mentioned just before, whose feet shall stand on the mount of
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAl. 543
Olives] shall be king ovrr all the earth : in that day shall there be on©
Lord, and his name one," Zech. xiv, 3, 8, 9, 20, 21.
Methinks, Rev. sir, 1 hear you triuniiih, and say at tliese last words of
the prophet : '' VVe, Unitarians, shiUl then win the day at last, and the
worship of God in trinity will be abolished for ever." Not so, sir;
Zechariah, and the Holy Ghost who inspired hiin, do not contradict
themselves. Read again the whole chapter, and you will sec that
Jeho%ah who will be King over all the earth, is Jehovah manifested in
the tlesh, whose " ieet shall stand in the mount of Olives ;" so that who-
ever is excluded from the domhiion, it cannot be the Son, who is so
described as to leave no doubt that he is to be " King over all the earth."
Tluis your unscriptural unity, which rejects the Son's divinity, is com-
pletely overthrown by Zechariah. The truth which he wants to incul-
cate is, that when Christianity shall have removed all Atheism and all
idolatry, the one Divine essence will be known and worshipped eveiy
where. And if you please to Call the Father Jehovah ininsible to his
creatures, the Son Jehovah v'mble, and the Holy Ghost Jehovah sensible
to his rational creatures, wc will not contend with you. Grant us that
in the Supreme Being there is an ineflablc and adorable trinity, and we
will readily grant } ou that this trinity is such as by no means breaks the
iueftiible unity \\hich wc adore as well as you, though we do not, witli
the Jewish zealots, talic up stones to throw at the Son, under pretence
of asserting the Father's glory : such a defence of the Divine unity
appeajing unto us as unnatural as it is unscriptural.
Take a proof that Zechariah by no means wmits to exclude our Lord
from divinity, though he stands up for the Divine unity: a prophet says :
"The children of Israel [after their rejection of the Shiloh] shall abide
many da)s without a kuig, and without a prince, aiid without a sacrifice;
altcrward they shall return iuid seek the Lord their God and David their
king, and shaJl fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days," Hos.
iii, 5. Now this David the king, who shall reign in the latter days over
the converted Jews and Gentiles, is the same King who is described in
the 2d, 45th, 46th, 110th Psalms, &c, as the Lord God of David, and
of the whole world : and that Zechariah calls him Lord, as he does the
Father, I prove by this Divine promise : " I will save the house of
Joseph, and they shall be as though I had not cast them otf; for I am
the Lord their God. I will gather them, for I have redeemed them ;
and I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and
down in his name, saith the Lord," Zech. x, 5, 12. From these words
I conclude that Zechariah, for from overtuming that unity of God,
which is consistent with the divinity of the Father and the Son, teaches
us that these two Divijie subsistences jointly bear the name of Jehovah,
in the one Divine essence. And if you ask who tliis Lord is, that says I
will strengthen them in or by the Lord, that they may walk in his name,
I luiswer, that the consistent tenor of the Scriptures proves that it is the
same mighty God, who, when he appeared as the Son given unto us,
said to the eleven apostles, " Without me ye can do nothing ;" and who
strengthened St. Paid by saying to him, " My grace is suflicient for
thee ;" and whom the apostle had in view when he wrote, " Son
Timothy, be stioiig in the grace tliat is in Christ Jesus."
Of uU tlie gracious means which the Lord will uac to overcome those
544 SOCINIANISM UN6CRIPTURAL.
of his enemiea whom he shall not find completely obdurate, one will be
attended with the greatest success ; and as it is recorded both in the Old
and New Testament, and afibrds us a strong proof of our Melchisedec's
divinity, I shall describe it here.
Speaking of our Lord who punishes faithless Jerusalem, and makes
her triumph when she repents and returns, Zechariah says : " Thus saith
the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of
the earth, and formcth the spirit of man witiiin him, In that day I will
make Jerusalem a burthensome stone for all people, and Judah shall be
like a torch of fire in a sheaf, they shall devour all the people round
about, and Jerusalem shall be rebuilt and inhabited again in her own
place. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem : and I will pour upon the house of
David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and suppli-
cation, and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced, [in the
person of Messiah, the Prince, in whom dwells the fulness of the God-
head bodily,] and they shall mourn for him [the Prince of Peace pierced]
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as
,CM)p,_that is in bitterness for his first born, [pierced in his sight.] In
^ay [of Shiloh's return, when he shall overcome unbelieving Jews,
evan itiithless Christians, in the same manner in which he overcame the
V -b 1 pif of Thomas] there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as
the .. ning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon," from which
the Israelites brought back to Jerusalem their good King Josiah, wounded
to death by the Egyptians, Zech. xii, 1-1 L Behold, says St. John,
confirming this prophecy, " He cometh with clouds ; and every eye
shall see him, and they also who pierced him, and all kuidreds of the
earth shall wail because of him," Rev. i, 7. If you ask St. John of
y. )m he speaks, he immediately mentions the " mighty God of" Isaiah.
At. for Zechariah, he hath already told us that he means Jehovah, who
*' formed the spirit of man within him," the creating Logos, by whom
all things were made, and who, by assummg our nature, became
Emmanuel, that he might make atonement, and give himself a ransom
for his sinful brethren. * * * *
LETTER VII.
The evangelists and apostles bear testimony to the divinity of Christ.
Rev. Sra, — In your History of the Carruptions of Christianity, (vol. i,
p. 144,) you assert, that "they [the apostles after their supernatural
illumination] never gave him [our Lord] any higher title than that of a
man approved of God," Acts ii, 22. Now, sir, if this assertion be true,
the Scriptures are on your side ; but if all the apostles, whose writings
are come down to us, rise against it, you will please to remember that
your doctrine is built upon the sand.
We grant you, sir, that St. Peter, considering the furious prejudices
of the Jews, in the beginning of his first sermon, did not preach to them
the divinity of Christ, which would have been an absurd step ; because,
far from being disposed to believe that our Lord was " very God of very
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 545
God," many of them did not so much as beUeve that he was a good
man. Wisdom, therefore, forbade that apostle to dazzle his hearers at
once, b}' the glorious light of this doctrine. Hence he at first called
his Divine Master " a man approved of God." But did he not, before
he concluded, represent him as taken up to the very throne of the
Father, and placed on the highest seat in heaven, at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, as one whom the Father will see honoured with
Jiimself, by all men and all angels ? In a word, did not Peter apply to
our Lord these words of the royal prophet, Psalm ex, 1 : " The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool ?" Acts ii, 34. Words these so strongly expressive of a
dignity superior to that of any mere man, that they represent the Father
himself as determined to see the partner of his throne worshipped by all
the creation, according to the psalmist's prophecy : " They that dwell in
the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him ; all nations shall serve him,"
Psalm Ixxii, 9, &c.
St. Peter, in his second discourse to the Jews, far from calhng our
Lord a mere man, as you do, calls him "the Prince of Life," and n- ""
him emphatically "the Holy One," a sacred title, which, in the .'utie
tures, is never given to any mere man ; but in the Old Testami those
twenty-nine times appropriated to "Jehovah, the Lord God of ^ n-*V'=
Acts iii, 14, 15.
Proceed, sir, to St. Peter's third and last discourse handed down to us,
and you will also find that, far from intimating to his hearers that Jesus
Christ is a mere man, he has no sooner mentioned the Saviour's adorable
name, but he makes a solemn pause, guards Cornelius against the error
into which you are fallen, and, speaking of him whom you debase to a
mere man, cries out, " He himself is Lord of all !" Aurog sit zia jv
xupiof, Acts X, 36. Now, sir, he who hath the title of Lord of all, hath
certainly a title higher than that of a mere man " approved of God ;"
for he hath the title of Lord of men and angels, Lord of earth and
heaven. St. Peter, therefore, hath already confuted your unscriptural
assertion.
But let us hear the testimony of the other inspired authors of the New
Testament, and let us see, sir, if they confirm your assertion better than
he whom you have quoted with so little attention. Do not they represent
our Lord as the Divine Son of God? (1.) By his eternal generation,
as the -Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God. And
(2.) By his being conceived of a pure virgin (as to his human nature)
by the miraculous interposition of the Holy Ghost. Thus, although he
was a real man, yet he was really a Divine man, as appears by these
following scriptures : —
When the Angel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary to inform her that
she should bear a son, who should be " the Son of the Highest," and
Emmanuel, " God Avith us," she replied, " How shall this be, seeing I
know not a man ?" The heavenly messenger replied, " The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee ; therefore that holy [conception] which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God," Luke i, 32, «fec.
Lest this capital doctrine stiould stand upon the testimony of one
Vol. HL 35
546 SOCINIAXISM UKSCRlPTUBAi.
evangelist only, St, Matthew says, " Before Joseph and Mar}^ came
together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." And when
Joseph entertained suspicions concerning her virtue, " the angel of the
Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy [espoused] wife, for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Thus was fulfilled that which
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet : Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
or God with us," Matt, i, 18, 20, 23. Hence it appears that, even
without taking the incarnation of the Word into the account, the human
nature to which the Logos condescended to unite himself, when he took
upon him the form of a servant, bore a stamp of divinity ; and therefore
our Lord, far from being a mere man, was in liis whole complex person
fitted for Divine honours by his ineffable generations, both as immortal
Son of God, and mortal son of David. And if this was the case, even
when he lay in the manger and hung on the cross, how much more now
that he shines in the midst of his everlasting throne, where mortality is
so completely swallowed up of life, and his refulgent manhood so glo-
riously taken up into God !
By preaching this wonderful generation of our Lord, Philip, the
evangelist, kindled Christian faith in the heart of a pious Ethiopian,
who meditated on these words of Isaiah : " Who shall declare [or fully
explain] his [the Messiah's] generation ?" &c. If we beheve you, sir,
you are the man raised to explain this mystery. You teach that the
Logos, "the Word made flesh," had no glory, no glorious existence
'' with the Father before the world began :" thus, indirectly charging
falsehood upon our Lord's sacerdotal prayer, you make an end of liis
eternal generation. As for his human generation, you boldly cut the
knot by declaring that the Messiah was a mere man, naturally born of
an honest tradesman and of Mary his wife. And thus you deny the
Lord who bought you, both with respect to his eternal Godhead, and to
the gloiy of his manhood.
When you have so deeply wounded our Lord's glory, you think to
salve the matter over by treating the evangelists with as little ceremony
as you treat their Divine Master. " I have frequently avowed myself
(do you say to Dr. Horsley) not to be a believer of the inspiration of the
evangelists and apostles, as writers : I therefore hold the subject of the
miraculous conception to be one, with respect to which any person is fully
at hberty to think, as evidence shall appear to him, without impeachment
of his faith as a Christian." Thus, sir, you are so pressed by Scripture,
that honestly pulling off the mask, you give up the veracity or the wis-
dom of the sacred writers as incompatilile with your doctrine. We thank
you for this declaration ; and we look upon it as a public acknowledg-
ment, that if Socinus and Mr. Lindsey are for you, the evangelists and
apostles are for us. To convince you still more of it, I shall continue to
try by Scripture your assertion, that the apostles never give our Lord any
higher title than that of" a man approved of God."
We have already seen what St. Peter, St. Matthew, and St. Luke
say on the subject : let us hear St. Mark : taking us to the holy mount,
with St. Peter, he shows us our Lord transfiginred, while some beams
of the Divine glory, of which he had " emptied himself," shine through
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAIm 547
the veil of his flesh, insomuch that his very garments become gloriously
resplendent. And while the greatest prophets, Moses and Elias, attend
him, the Father " speaks from the excellent glory," or from a cloud
refulgent with Dinne gloiy, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight,
hear him," Mark ix, 7, and 2 Pet. i, 7. Nor is it here so much St.
Peter and St. Mark, who speak, as matter of fact, and the first of the
three witnesses in heaven. We hope, therefore, sir, that you will either
recant your assertion, or show that the Father ever gave such a testi-
mony to Moses his servant, to Abraham his friend, to any of the men
whom he hath approved of in all ages, or to John the Baptist, who was
so " great in the sight of the Lord," that " among them that are born of
women, there hath not risen a greater than he ;" and nevertheless this
greatest of men said : " There cometh after me one mightier than I, the
latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose,"
Mark i, 7.
I grant you, however, sir, that you will find in St. Mark some of the
favourite expressions of your system : " Is not this the carpenter, the son
of Mary ? the brother of James and Simon ? and are not his sisters with
us ?" Mark vi, 3. But before you adopted such a system, should you
not, sir, have gone on to the end of the verse, and taken notice that the
people who thus speak, are those who are " offended at our Lord," those
" who stumble against the precious corner stone laid in Sion," even those
proud, unbelieving, stubborn Jews, to whom our Lord declared it would
be more tolerable for the siimers of Sodom in the day of judgment than
for them ? But if you will know farther what St. Mark's own sentiments
were on the subject, we consider, he will tell you, after the second wit-
ness in heaven : " The Son of man [the Messiah, even while he appears
in the form of a servant] is Lord also of the Sabbath. Supreme and
Divine Lawgiver, he hath power to dispense with his own law, and of
consequence with the fourth commanchuent, Mark ii, 28. And who
hath this supreme Lordship, but the " Lord God of Sabaoth," the " Lord
of the Sabbath" and of the heavenly hosts ? Unless, therefore, you can
prove that Moses, Samuel, or some man approved of God, hath been
called the Lord of the Sabbath by St. Mark, you must grant that yom*
assertion is overthroAvn by that evangelist.
St. James uses indifferently the titles of God apd of Lord, the latter
of which you yourself, sir, will grant to be the ordinary title of Jesus in
the New Testament, as it is of Jehovah in the Old. " If any man (says
that apostle) lack wisdom, let him ask it of God ; but let him ask in
faith ; for let not the man who wavers think that he shall receive any
thing of the Lord," Janries i, 5, 7. And accordingly he begins the next
chapter by pointing out the Messiah, not as a mere man, but as the great
object of faith, jointly with the Father. " Have not," says he, " the faith
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons,"
James ii, 1. The second Lord is not in the original, but it is properly
supphed in our translation, because it is the only word which can be
grammatically supplied to complete the sense, and Jehovah, the Lord,
giver of wisdom, object of our faith, and Lord of glory, is certainly a
title never given by the inspired writers to any mere man, let him be
ever so approved of God. St. James, therefore, confutes your assertion,
as well as St. Mark.
548 SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTUKAL.
St. Jude wrote but one short epistle, and yet attention and candour can
see a beam of our Lord's divinity shining through the very first verse.
St. James calls himself ' the servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus
Christ ;" but St. Jude, calling himself " the servant of Jesus Christ "
only, inscribes his epistle " to them that are sanctified by God the Father,
and preserved in [or by] Jesus Christ." Now what unprejudiced per-
son does not see, (1.) That if there is " God the FcdJier,'" there must (by
necessity of opposition) be also God the Son: and (2.) That this Divine
Son is the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the faithful are preserved ; it
being impossible that any one, who is not God, should preserve a count-
less number of men through all countries, and for hundi-eds of generations,
see Pet. i, 5.
Hence it is that St. Jude, in the fourth verse, represents it as the same
capital offence to "deny* the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ,"
the words " only Lord God " being put here, (as in John xvii, 3,) to ex-
clude from divinity, lordship, and dominion, all who by nature are not
God ; and not to exclude our Lord Jesus Christ, who in the very same
verse, is joined to the Father ; who, in the unity of the Father and of the
Spirit, is " God over all," and whom "the Father of glory hath set at his
own right hand in tlie heavenly places, far above all principality and
power, and might, and dominion, and eveiy name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come," Eph. i, 20, &c.
That St. Jude makes it the same capital offence to speak against the
dignity of the Son, as to insult the majesty of the Father, and that the
" men crept in unawares," against whom St. Jude prophesies, are prm-
cipally the malicious opposers of our Lord's divinity, appears from the
context : for St. Jude, in verses 21 and 25, considering again Jesus
Christ as on the throne of the Godhead with his Father, exhorts the
Christians to keep themselves in the love of God the Father, " looking
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life." Now who
can read these words without wondering at the " certain men " who
" creep in unawares," who come into the Church of Christ, as if they
would purge it from corruptions, and pour contempt upon the very divi-
nity of the supreme Lawgiver and Judge of the universe ; and who
dare tell us that the apostles give Jesus Christ no higher title than that
of a mere man "appijpved of God," when they call him the Lord to
whose mercy we are to look for eternal Ufe ; as if a mere man could,
in the day of God, show us " mercy unto eternal life !"
How different is the idea which St. Jude gives us of him, after Enoch,
verse 14: "Behold the Lord comcth with ten thousands of his saints, to
execute judgment upon all, and to convince all the ungodly of their
ungodly deeds, and of all the hai-d si>eec}ies which they have spoken
against him." Now, sir, we Trinitarians never heard of the saints of
Moses, or of any mere man, but we have heard of the saints of God, we
have heard of that great Being, who is called the Lord of hosts and the
King of saints, because all the armies of the saints and angels are his
*I consider this verse as it stands in our translation. But when I look into
the original, I find that St. Jude prophesies of "certain men crept in unawares,
who deny, tov fiovav Scmroniv Scov Kai Kvptov >jjj(i)v lyjaav Xpij-oi', our Only Lord God
and Saviour Jesus Christ" — or, according to the best copies, which omit Qcov, our
only Master (or Lord) and Saviour Jesus Christ.
SOCIOTANISM UNSCRIPTITRAL. 549
own : and therefore we conclude that the Lord who shall come with
myriads of his saints, is the Son who will punish obstinate unbelievers
for their hard speeches, not against a mere man, but against him who
said, when he was in the form of a servant, "llie Son of man [resuming
his form of God] shall come in his gloiy, and all his holy angels with
him, and they shall gather his elect," &c, Matt, xxiv, 31, and xxv, 31.
Now, sir, this Lord of glory, whose are the saints, the angels, and the
elect, is our Lord Jesus Christ, whom St. Judc, in the last verse of his
epistle, calls (in the unity of the Father's Godhead, mentioned vei'ses
1 and 21) the only wise God our Saviour, to whom be glory, majesty,
and dominion, both now and ever !
Should you ask me, sir, how I prove that this doxology belongs pecu-
liarly to our Lord Jesus Christ, I reply, that St. Jude himself furnishes
me with a proof; for, verse 24, speaking of this God our Saviour to
whom he ascribes glory, he describes him thus : " Now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy," &c. And that this descrip-
tion peculiarly belongs to our Lord, 1 prove by the following references.
Speaking of himself as the good Shepherd, the keeper of the sheep, that
keeps obedient believers from falling into sin and into hell, he says : "I
and my Father are one ;" and explaining how he is, with the Father,
this God our Saviour who keeps the sheep from falling, he says : " I
give unto them eternal life ; none shall pluck them out of my hand : my
Father [also] who gave them me, is greater than all [the powers of
earth and hell,] and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's
hand," John x, 28, 30.
If this equality of the Father and of the Son, in " keeping us from fall-
ing," proves that St. Jude's doxology refers to our Lord, as well as to the
Father, the following remark on St. Jude's word, "God our Saviour is able
to present you faultless with great jov," &c, proves it still more clearly.
Is it God the Son, who will present us to the Father, or God the Father,
who will present us to himself? St. Paul will inform us: "You (says
he) that were sometimes enemies, hath he reconciled in the body of his
flesh through death, to present you unblamable in his sight," Col. i, 22.
Now, sir, so surely as the Father was never manifest in the flesh, the
Prince of life, who died to " present us blameless," is Jesus Christ,
whom St. Jude [in union \\ ilh God the Father] calls " God our Saviour."
For it is our Lord, who peculiarly " loved the Church, and gave himself
jbr it, that he might cleanse it, and present it to himself without spot and
blameless." It is our liord, '' who, for the joy [the great joy] that was
set before him, endured tiie cross," and will one day say (as Mediator)
to tlie Father, " Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me."
Compare Eph. v, 25, 6cc ; Heb. ii, 13, and xii, 2.
From these observations it appears that St. Jude also gives to Christ
higher titles than that of " a man approved of God," smce he calls him
not only "Jesus our Lord Messiah," but "God our Saviour." I have
dwelt the longer on this apostle's testimony, because some of the men
whom he describes have endeavoured to press him into the service of
Socinus, and to represent him as an opposer of our Lord's divinity.
We have not yet heard St. John and St. Paul, but as this letter is long
enough, I shall reserve their testimony for my next. I remain, &c.
550 SOCIXIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL.
LETTER VIII.
On the same subject.
Rev. Sir, — The sacred writers with whom you have ah'eady been
confronted, rise with one accord against your error. Two more apostles,
St. John and St. Paul, remain to be consulted ; and as they have writ-
ten about half of the New Testament, we may in their writings, if any
where, find your favourite doctrine. But before we call them in as evi-
dences, let us make a view of the question to be decided by their testimony.
This question is not whether our Lord was a man, " a man approved
of God," a man mediating between God and us, nor yet, whether he was
not inferior to the Father when he had taken upon him the form of a
servant, and when he sustained the part of a commissioned IMediator :
for this we maintain as well as you. But the question is, whether, as
Logos, as the Word, he had not a Divine " glory with his Father before
the world was," John xvii, 5. You boldly reply, " No !" you suppose
that Arians do him too much honour, when they believe that he had a
super-angeUc nature ; you think that we Trinitarians are idolaters, for
considering him as possessed of a Divine nature ; and you assert, that
he was a mere man, and that the sacred writers give him no higher title
than that of a man approved of God.
Now, sir, where does St. John side herein with Socinus and you?
Is it in his Gospel, which he begins by calling our Lord " the Word who
in the beginning was with God, [the Father, Jude, verse 1,] and was
God?" Is it where he saith, that this Logos is the Word, "by which all
things were made, without which nothing was made, and in which was
the life and the hght of men ;" that this '^ Logos was made flesh," and
that he (St. John with his fellow apostles) "beheld the glory" of this
Logos, " a gloiy as of the only begotten of the Father ?" John i, 1, 14.
I do not wonder if a philosopher who maintains that he has no im-
mortal principle within him, can find, in these words of St. John, a
demonstration that the Word, the Logos made flesh, was a mere man ;
but we poor trinitarian idolaters, who have yet immortal souls, think
that this apostle could not assert more clearly the eternal generation and
divinity of^ the Logos. (1.) His eternal generation , by saying, that "in
the beginning [when the creation began] he was with God the Father,"
John i, 1, 14, as his only Son, begotten m a manner, of which the forma-
tion of Adam's soul, and the regeneration of the godly, who, by analogy,
are called sons of God, give us but a faint idea : and (2.) his divinity, by
declaring, that tliis only begotten Son of God the Father, was not only
" with God in the beginning," as Maker of all things ; but that " he was
God ;" a title which is as far above that of a mere man, as Christi-
anity is above Materialism.
If St. Jolfti overthrows your error in the very first verse of his
Gospel, does he set it up afterward ? Where ? Is it where he saith :
" No man hath seen God [the Father] at any time ; the only begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him ?" John
i, 18. Is it where he brings in our Lord as saying, " I and my Father
are one: he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father?" John x, 30,
and xiv, 9.
SOCINIANISM UXSCRIPTUBAt. 551
We grant you, with St. John, that the Father is greater than the Son,
when tlie Sou is considei-ed, not only as a man, but also as a Divine
Mediator ; allowing you farther, that when our Lord came " to fulfil all
righteousness," to set us a pattern of all Divine and human virtues, and
to enforce God's commandments, the fitlh of wliich requires human
sons to obey their human fathers ; it became him as a Divine Son to
honour God the Father, and to say publicly, " My Father is greater than
I," both with respect to his iMternitij, and with reference to the order of
the "Three who bear record in heaven." Nay, we maintain that our
Lord coming, as a Di\'ine Son, to set us a pattern of voluntary subordi-
nation, liberal obedience, and filial gratitude, it highly became him to
display the temper of a Son, by referring all to his Father.
Tliis he did with a dignity suitable to the Son of God, when he said :
" As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have
life in himself," John v, 26. " The living Father hath sent me, and I
live by the Father. I can [morally speaking] of mine own self do
nothing : what things soever the Father doth, these also doth the Son
likewise. I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who sent
me, &ic. Father, if thou be willing, " remove this cup from me ; never-
theless, not my will, but thine be done. Sacrifices [offered according to
the law] thou wouldest not ; but a body hast thou prepared me. Then
I said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Father, I have finished the
work thou gavest me to do : into thy hands I commend my spirit : [the
human soul which I assumed, together with the body thou didst prepare
for me :] I have glorified thee on the earth, and now glorify thou me
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
In all these dutiful expressions, nothing indicates that our Lord was a
mere man : on the contrary, taken all together, they are strongly expres-
sive of the humble submission, of the perfect obedience, and of the
cheerful dependence which become a Son, and which principally became
" the Son of God, manifest in the flesh." Li a word, instead of finding
Socinianism in these speeches of our Lord ; in them, as in a glass, I see
the Divine character of him, whom the Scriptures call i5iov uiov, the
•proper Son of God the Father : I admire the adorable temper of a Son,
who is the perfect pattern of all sons, as being (putfsi Sr;o?, Son of God by
nature. Compare Rom. viii, 32, with Jude 1, and Gal. iv, 8.
Having thus presented you, sir, with a key to open these passages in
St. John, which the enemies of our Lord's Divine glory continually
dwell upon, I return to that apostle, and I ask again. Where does he say
that our Lord is a mere man ? If you reply that it is where he brings
in our Lord as saying, " Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may
glorify thee. Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal hfe to as many as thou hast given him," that is, every peni-
tent believer. " iVnd this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," John xvii, 1.
(3.) Triumphing in this passage, you say, If the Father be the only
true God, either Jesus Christ is no God at all, or he is only a false god:
but conclusive as you think this argument, if you consider it every way,
you will find that it can be so retorted as to overthrow your whole
system.
" The only true God," you say, is " the Father," mentioned in the
552 SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTrRAL.
very first verse of the chapter. We thank you for tliis concession : we
have then in the true Godhead, a Father, God the Father. Now, sir,
we Trinitarians, who have not yet sacrificed our rational and immortal
souls to Materialism, reason thus : If the only true God be a truly Divine
and everlasting Father, he has a truly Divine and everlasting Son ; for
how can he be truly God the Father, who hath not truly a Divine Son?
This inference is so obvious, that St. John, ^vhom you try to force into
the service of Socinus, saith : " He that honoureth not the Son,
honoureth not the Father ; he that denieth the Son, denieth the Father
also ;" because the opposite and relative terms and natures of Father
and Son, necessarily suppose each other. You must therefore give up
the true paternity of God the Father, or the false arguments of Socmus.
" What ! do you then believe in two or three gods ? Do you break the
first command of all revealed religion, which is to believe in the unity
of God ?" No, sir : we only believe that in the unity of the Godhead
there is, without any division, a mysterious and adorable trinity, which our
Lord calls " The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." We believe with
St. John, (1.) That "there are three who bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ;" and (2.) That " these three are
one," 1 John v, 7. We believe that when the Father spake from the cloud
on the holy mount, and from heaven on the banks of Jordan, he said,
" This is my beloved Son ; hear him." We obey this first command
of the Gospel : we listen when our Lord speaks ; and we hear liim say,
" I and the Father are one," — one in our counsels and works, but espe-
cially one in our Divine nature. Hence the propriety and ground of
this capital precept : " You believe in God, [the Father,] believe also in
me," who am his only begotten Scm. Now, sir, we beg that you will
not so far honour Socinus as to pour contempt upon the declaration of
the Father, the command of the Son, and the veracity of both : and this
you nevertheless do when you contend for a unity which degrades the
Son of God to a mere man, and makes it an act of idolatry to believe
in him as we believe in the Father.
You and your friend Mr. Lindsey are Jewish Unitarians, I mean
Unitarians ready to stone the Son of God for supposed blasphemy ; and
Unitarians " who crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame :" but we, whom you pity as deluded idolaters, are Christian
Unitarians, With the apostle, we believe that in the Deity there is an
eternal paternity, an eternal sonship, and an eternal procession, which
answer to the profovmd mystery of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, held
out in the form of baptism as the one great o]))ect of our faith ; and we
reverence this Divine paternity, sonship, and procession, as you admire
the polarity and attraction of the loadstone, together with the impreg-
nating effluvia which continually proceed from it, without your knowing
those mysteries of the natural world, otherwise than by the testimony of
other philosophers, and the experience you have had, again and again,
that they spoke the truth, when they testified that those mysteries are
realities worthy to be believed by every lover of truth.
Your objection being answered, I return to St. John, and I ask again,
Where does he say that our Lord was a mere " man approved of God ?"
Is it where he declares, that " he who honoureth not the Son, honoureth
not the Father," and that the Father " hath committed all judgment to
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTIIRAL. 553
the Son, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father?"
John V, 23. Wliat a finishing stroke do the apostle and our Lord here
give to Socinianism ! How do all men honour the Father? Is it not
by trusting in him, by praymg to him, and by worshipping him as
Jehovah, "God over all, blessed for ever?" And is he a mere man,
whom St. John, the Son, and Father, want us thus to honour ? Does
not this one verse contain a demonstrative proof that St. John spake too
liighly of our Lord, or that Socinus and you trample upon the divinity
of the Son, which is one and the same with the divinity of the Father,
since " all men must honour the Son as they honour the Father ?"
From St. John's Gospel, go to his epistles, and you will find him still
ready to assert our Lord's divinity. Beginning his first epistle, as he
did his Gospel, with a heart penetrated with a deep sense of his Master's
Divine greatness, he calls him " the eternal life, which was with the
Father," 1 John i, 2. That we may honour the Son as we honour the
Father, he points out both unto us as the joint object of our faith : for,
representing " fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ," as the soul and the end of Christianity, he exhorts us equally
to " continue in the Son, and in the Father," 1 John i, 3, and ii, 24 ;
because it is eternal life, in its progressive manifestations, to know God
the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ.
It is remarkable, sir, that in consequence of the oneness of the Father
and of the Son, St. John uses (after our Lord) a variety of expressions
entirely subversive of your error. " The Father dwelleth in me," saith
Christ ; " I am in the Father, and the Father in me : if any man love
me, I and my Father will come to him !" John xiv, 10, 11, 23. Nay,
this apostle, who concludes this epistle by a charge to " keep ourselves
from idolatiy," uses the appellations of Father, God, the Son of God,
and Jesus Christ, as partly synonymous. Take some examples : " Be-
hold what manner of love the Father bath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the [adopted] sons of God. Now are we the [adopted]
sons of God, but we know, that when he [God manifest in the flesh]
shall appear, we shall be like him" in his glorified humanity, 1 John
iii, 1, 2. Again : " Hereby know we the love of God, [manifest in the
flesh,] because he [God our Saviour] laid down his life for us," 1 John
iii, 16. Yet again : " We have known and beheved the love that God
hath to us ; God is love. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment, [or as it is expressed 1 John
ii, 28,] that when he [God the Son] shall appear, we may not be
ashamed before him at his coming, because as he is [in his form of a
servant, a loving, humble man] so are we in this world," 1 John iv,
16, &;c. From a carefid comparison of these passages, it is evident
that St. John considered the Father and the Son, in his form of God, as
so intimately one, that he joins them together as the gi*eat object of our
faith, and uses the high title of God for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the God-man who laid down his human life for us, and before
whom we shall appear in the great day.
Take another |)roof that St. John honours the Son as he honours the
Father. Summing up his first epistle, he saith : " The Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that
is true, [the Father, eternally one with his only begotten Son.] And we
554 SOCINIANISM UXSCRH'TURAl.
are in him that is true, even in [or by] his Son Jesus Christ : this is the
true God and eternal hfe." For the eternal Godhead resides in the
Son, as truly as it does in the Father, and flows to us more immediately
from the Son ; who is pecuharly God our Saviour, and the fountain of
our eternal life, 1 John v, 20. Thus St. John concludes this epistle, as
he began his Gospel, not by asserting with you that Jesus Christ is a
mere man, or by refusing to give him any higher title than that of a
" man approved of God," but by calling him " God, the true God, the
living God," yea, " everlasting life" itself And the drift of this excel-
lent epistle is so evidently to hold forth the Son's and the Father's com-
mon divinity, that the sum of the whole is, " Whosoever denieth the
Son, he hath not "the Father !" 1 John ii, 23.
The same vein of anti-Socinian doctrine runs through St. John's
second Epistle, of which we have the substance in these words : " He
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any to you, and bring not this doctrine, [but make
you believe that committing sin is consistent with our victorious faith, or
that the Father is Jehovah alone, and that the Logos, God the Word,
was not manifest in the flesh to take away our sins,] receive him not
into your house, neither bid him God speed ; for he that biddeth him
God speed is a partaker of his evil deeds," 2 John 9, 10. " For many
deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ
[the Logos, who was in the beginning with God, and was God] is come
in the flesh, [some of whom deny his real divinity, and others his real
humanity.'] This is a deceiver and an antichrist," 2 John v, 7. " For
he is antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son :" it being impossible
to deny the Son without denying the Fatlier, 1 John ii, 22. Yea, so
perfect is the oneness of the Father and of his only begotten Son, that
St. John gives the elect lady this anti-Socinian blessing : " Grace, mercy,
and peace be with you [equally] from God the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ," the Son of the Father, 2 John 3. Another proof
this that there is, in the Godhead, an eternal paternity inseparably con-
nected with an eternal Sonship.
St. John's last book is full of the same doctrine. The Father (if not
the Son) speaks thus : " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending, saith the Lord, who is, who was, and is to come, the Almighty,"
Rev. i, 8. And the Son, not thinking it a robbery to speak of himself
in the same glorious terms, says, " I am Alpha and Omega, the begin-
ning and the end, the first and the last," Rev. i, 17, and xxii, 13.
Thus the last as well as the first chapter of the Revelation, shows that
he hath higher titles than that of a " man approved of God."
As the Father and Son are honoured with the same titles, so are they
represented as filling the same everlasting throne : and although the
Father calls himself a jealous God, yet he is so little displeased with the
Divine honours paid to the Son, that, placing him at his right hand, he
gives him the seat of honour " in the midst of the throne," that all men
and angels may (without scruple) honour the Son, as they honour the
Father, Rev. v, 6 ; Psalm ox, 1, and Acts vii, 55. Therefore every
rational " creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth," is
represented, by St. John, as paying the same worship to the Father and
the Son, and as addressing to both a doxology similar to that which
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAt. 555
concludes the Lord's prayer, saying, in the midst of the deepest prostra-
lions, " Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, lor ever and ever," Rev. iv,
8, &c, and v, 12, &c. And both, in the unity of the Spirit, are adored
as the same Jehovah, the same " Holy, Holy, Holy One, that liveth for
ever and ever, who hath created all things, and for whose pleasure they
are and were created, and before whose throne the elders [of the tri-
umphant Church] cast their crowns," Rev. iv, 10, 11, and v, 14.
Thus St. John, whom you think favourable to your error, not only
asserts (after our Lord) that all men are to " honour the Son as they
honour the Father," but testifies that all the heavenly hosts actually
worship the Son as they do the Father. So grossly mistaken are you,
when you assert that our worshipping of Jesus Christ is an abominable
idolatry, on account of which every true Christian is to forsake the
Church of England. I wish, sir, that by advancing such unscriptural
and antichristian paradoxes, you may not finally unfit yourself for the
company of those who worship God and the Lamb, and for the bliss of
those who sing with St. John, " To liim that loved us, and washed us
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto
God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever,
Amen !" Rev. i, 5. Praying that this letter may be a mean of removing
or shaking the prejudices you entertain against him who (in the unity
of the Father and of the Holy Ghost) is " the true God and eternal
life," 1 John v, 7, and 20, I remain, &c.
LETTER IX.
Doctor Priestley is confronted with St. Paul : and our Lord's Divine
glory is seen in that apostle's uritings.
Rev. Sir, — St. Paul, who, as a rigid Jew, detested the very name of
idols, and who, as a zealous Christian, went through the world to make
armies of idols fall before the living God, — St. Paul, I say, will pecu-
liarly take care not to countenance idolatry. He wrote thirteen or
fourteen epistles, and, if you are not iriistaken, we shall find, at least in
one of them, that our Lord was a mere man.
But how soon does this apostle rise against your error ! In the very
first chapter of his first epistle, he calls his Gospel indifferently " the
Gospel of God" and "the Gospel of Christ," Rom. i, 1, 16 ; and to let
us at once into the mystery of our Lord's Divine nature, he confirms St.
John's doctrine of the Logos made flesh, and calls our Lord " the Son
of God made of the seed of Da\id according to the flesh, and declared
with power the Son of God, according to the Spirit of holiness, [the holy
and quickening Spirit essential to his Divine nature, 1 Cor. xv, 45,] by
the resurrection from the dead." And therefore the apostle immediately
points him out as being, in the unity of the Father, the Divine spring of
grace and peace, saying, " Grace to you, and peace, from (lod our
Father, and from tiie Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. i, 3, 4, 7. Far from
seeing in this description a mere man, I already perceive loiov uiov, the
proper Son of God, the very Prince of life, condescending to clothe liim-
556 SOCINIANISM UXSCRIPTURAt.
self with our flesh, our mortal nature, that he might make way for liis
Gospel, which is the Gospel of God.
When the apostle hath thus led us to honour the Son as we honour
the Father, he deplores the idolatry of the heathen, who honoured and
" worshipped the creature," Rom. i, 25. A strong proof this, that St.
Paul had no idea of your doctrine, which sees in Christ a mere creature.
On the contrary, he holds him out as the great object of our faith and
confidence : saying that " God [the Father] hath set him forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, that he miglit be just, and the
justifier of him that beheveth in Jesus," that is, who relieth on Jesus for
salvation, Rom. iii, 25, 26. Now, sir, this faith, this religious rehance
for pardon and etei'nal life, is the highest of all acts of worship, and
therefore none is to be the object of it but " God our Saviour." So sure
then as St. Paul never called us to believe in Moses, in himself, or in any
mere man, but only in Jesus; our Lord, the object of our faith, is "God
over all," and not a mere man as you unscripturally teach.
On our Lord's divinity rests the force of St. Paul's great incentive to
Divine love : " God," saith he, " commendeth liis love toward us, in that,
when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," Rom. v, 8. For if
Christ be a mere man, God commended his love as much toward us by
the death of Socrates, or of St. Paul, as by the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ. On the same evangelical ground rests also this ravishing con-
clusion of the apostle : " As by one man's offence death reigned by one,
much more they who receive abundance of grace shall reign in life, by
one, Jesus Christ," Rom. v, 17. For if our Lord be a mere man as
Adam was, why is he much more able to save than the first man was
able to destroy ? But npon St. Paul's evangeUcal principles of sound
reasoning, Christ is by so much more able to save than Adam was to
destroy, by how much the only begotten and proper Son of God is
greater than a son by mere creation. For " the first Adam was [only]
made a living soul, but the last Adam [is] a quickening Spirit,"
1 Cor. XV, 45.
Take another instance of St. Paul's apostolic concern for our Lord's
Divine glory, which you so zealously oppose. Christ had said to the
woman of Samaria, " Salvation is of the Jews," because he, the Saviour,
was of Jacob's posterity. In like manner St. Paul, speaking of the
Israelites, adds, " Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came who is
over all, God blessed for ever," o wv sift ziavTU)v (^sog svXoyriTos sig txj
aiuvag a/x7)v, Rom. ix, 5. It was impossible to any but an inspired writer
to crowd, in so few words, such a full description of our Lord's divinity,
contradistinguished from his humanity. (1.) He is o wv, he exists essen-
tially. " Before Abraham was," says he, " I am ;" and therefore the
name of Jehovah, the self-existent (xod, belongs to him, as he is one
with the Father, and the Spirit. (2.) He is not only "with God," but
he " is God :" yea, (3.) God " over all," God of all men and angels,
God supreme over earth and heaven. (4.) (ilod "blessed," praised and
worshipped as God ; svXoyir/., blessing, being the first action of adoration,
which St. John saw performed in heaven, to him that sitteth upon the
throne, and to the Lamb, Rev. v, 13. Nor is tlfls adoration (5.) to
end, like the extraoi"dinary honours paid to a king at his coronation : it
is to last for ever : and so far is St. Paul ft"om repenting to have asserted
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 557
our Lord's divinity in so strong a manner, tliat he sets (6.) the broad
seal of his approbation to the whole description by an " Amen," which
expresses both the fuhiess of his persuasion, and the warmth of the de-
votion with which he blessed and adored our Lord.
When the apostle hath considered the Son of God in his Divine
nature, lest we should lose sight of his condescending love in becoming
our brother, he concludes the epistle by showing him in his inferior cha-
racter, as a Divine man by whom alone we have access unto God. "To
God only wise," says he, " be glory through Jesus Christ for ever !"
Rom. xvi, 27. This care of the apostle is a proof of his wisdom ; for,
having showed us the infinite height of the ladder by which we rise to
glory, he kindly shows us that the foot of it is within our reach, remind-
ing us that this very Jesus, who, in the unity of the Father and of the
Holy Spirit, is " God over all," is nevertheless, in consequence of his
union with our nature, a man who graciously mediates between God
and us : —
And lest we should think that Divine man a mere man, St. Paul, in
the context, represents him again as a wonderful person in whom, by
virtue of an indissoluble union with Deity, are all the treasures of Divine
wisdom and power. For whereas, in the first chapter of his epistle, he
had wished the Romans "grace and peace, from God our Father, and
from the Lord Jesus Christ ;" in the last chapter he shows that in Christ
dwells the fuhiess of the Godhead, and gives twice his blessing in the
name of the Son only, saying, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you all," Rom. xvi, 20, 24 ; an apostolic blessing this, which upon
your plan would be both absurd and wicked. (1.) Absurd: for how can
a mere man have grace enough to supply the wants of millions in all
ages? And, (2.) Wicked: because it puts Christians upon believing in,
and praying to Jesus Christ, for the fulness of Divine grace, which would
be tempting them to gross idolatry, if he were a mere man.
But so far was St. Paul from entertaining any fear in this respect,
that he begins his next epistle by describing true Christians as men who
are "sanctified in [or by] Chi'ist Jesus, and who in every place call
upon the name of Jesus our Lord, both theirs and ours :" as people who
" wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall confirm them
unto the end, that they may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ," elsewhere called "the day of God," 1 Cor. i, 2, 7, 8. These
words, sir, demonstrate our Lord's divinity, unless you can prove that
all Christians, in all ages, and in every place, are to call upon a mere
man for sanctifying and confirming grace unto the end of the world.
But opposing St. Paul to himself, you try to set aside this striking
proof of our Lord's divinity, by saying after the apostle, " There is none
other God but one. To us [Christians] there is but one God the Fa-
ther, of whom are all things," 1 Cor. viii, 4, 6.
As you, sir, and your brethren, perpetually deceive the simple, by
affirming that our Lord's divinity is inconsistent with these words, I shall
not only rescue them out of your hands, but establish by Ihcin what you
intend to destroy.
1. What appearance is there that St. Paul, having begun his epistle
by pointing out our Lord as the object of our adoration and prayers,
would contradict himself in the middle of that very epistle? If you do
558 SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTirRAL.
not believe that he wrote by Divine inspiration, you should at least allow
that he wrote with common sense.
2. When he says, " There is none other God but one ;" — " to us there
is but one God," he no more means to overthrow the Godhead of our
Lord, which is one with the Godhead of the Father, than he means to
overthrow the Godhead of the Holy Spirit ; but he evidently opposes
the one Godhead of the Father, and of the Word, and of the Holy Ghost,
to the multiplicity of heathenish deities, and of potentates, who, as living
images of the supreme Potentate, are sometimes called gods, even in
Scripture.
3. To be convinced that this is the true meaning of the two clauses
on which you rest your contempt of our Lord's divinity, we need only
consider them with the context. St. Paul speaks of eating the flesh of
those beasts which have been " ottered in sacrifice to idols ;" and he
says, " We know that an idol is nothing in the world, [is a mere vanity,]
and that there is none other God but one, for though there be that are
called gods, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) yet to us [Chris-
tians] there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we
of him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, [the Word and Son of the Father,]
by whom are all things, and we by him." He might have added, as he
does, chap, xii, 4, and Eph. iv, 4, and " one Holy Ghost," the Spirit of
the Father, in whom are all things, and we in him.
4. I have observed, in the last letter, that this expression, " one God
the Father," far from excluding the divinity of the Son, is as consistent
with it, as the idea of a king is consistent with that of a subject : for
God being eternally and infinitely perfect, if paternity belong to his
essence, so does sonship. The eternal Father hath then a co-eternal
Son, his Word, who, in the unity of his Spirit, is the one God opposed by
St. Paul to the many idols and gods of the heathen. " There are three
[Divine subsistences] that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three [ekTi sv] are one," one Jehovah in
whose names Christians are baptized.
5. That our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, is not excluded from the
unity of the Godhead by the text, is evident to those who take notice
that the apostle hath no sooner mentioned " one God the Father," but
he mentions the Son as the " one Lord," in the unity of the Father and
of the Spirit.
6. If you insist that this expression, sts ©soj, one God, which is applied
to the Father, necessarily excludes the Son ; it will follow, by the same
unscriptural rule, that this expression, sij Kupio?, one Lord, which is ap-
plied to the Son, necessarily excludes the Father ; and thus to rob the
Son of his supreme divinity, you will rob the Father himself of his
supreme Lordship ! So true it is, that Unitarian overdoing always ends
in undoing ; and that our Saviour spake an awful truth, when he said,
" He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father !"
7. To be convinced that the one God, and the one Lord, are not to
be separated, and that, while the former is viewed as the Creator, the
latter is not to be looked upon as a mere creature, we have only to con-
sider what the apostle saith of each. He calls the Father the Being
"OK whom are all things, and we in him;" and he assures us that the
Son is the Being ^< by whom are all things, and we by him." Now if
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 559
" all things are by the Son," he is prior to all the creatures that have
been created, nay, he is the Creator of theui all, and therefore you en-
deavour to substitute an absurd tenet to the second article of the Chris-
tian faith, when you teach that he is a mere man, who had no existence
till he was born of the virgin. Thus the very scriptures by which you
attack our Lord's divinity, when they are candidly considered \\ith the
context, and the tenor of the Bible, strongly confirm what you rashly
deny : and St. Paul does not contradict himself when he exhorts the
Corinthians to " flee from idolatry," and to " call upon the name of the
one Lord by whom all things were made."
Nor will it avail to object, that St. Paul writes to these very Co-
rinthians, that " as the head of the woman is the man, so the head of
Christ is God," 1 Cor. xi, 3. For we who believe the divinity of
our Lord, as it is set forth in the Scriptures and in the Nicene Creed,
grant that as Eve was subordinate to Adam, so the Son is subordinate to
the Father : but, at the same time, we assert, that as Eve, notwithstand-
ing her subordination, was truly of one nature with Adam, the Son of God,
notAvithstanding his subordination to the Father, is of one nature with
him also. Thus this second objection, when candidly weighed, becomes
another proof of our Lord's divinity, especially if we consider what St.
Paul says in the next chapter.
Speaking to the Corinthians of the idols which they once worshipped, ,
he first opposes, to those dumb idols, Jesus Christ, the "Word made
flesh," and observes, that " no man can say, [with a full and hvely con-
viction,] that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. xii, 2, 3.
And in the three next verses the apostle, holding out the doctrine of the
trinity, says, (1.) " There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit."
(2.) "There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord."
(3.) "There are diversities of operations, but the same God." And
that the Spirit and the Lord are ineffably one with him, whom St. Paul
calls the same God, I prove by the context. God, saith he, " hath set
some in the Church as apostles, teachers," &c. God hath endued some
with " gifts of healing, and diversities of tongues." Now, he who pecu-
liarly sets some to be apostles, is the Lord Jesus, who called the twelve
apostles and St. Paul. And he who peculiarly imparts gifts, whether
of utterance, of tongues, or of healing, is the same Divine Spirit, whose
unity is opposed to the diversity of his operations.
If you deny that God " who hath set some in the Church to be apos-
tles," is peculiarly Jesus Christ, " the same Lord" who presides over the
differences "of administrations;" and if you will still assert that the
apostles never give to our Saviour any higher title than that of " a man
approved of God," I once more prove the contraiy, by reminding you,
that St. Paul calls the Church somethnes "the Church of God," and
sometimes " the Church of Christ ;" and that, speaking to the clergy at
Ephesus, he exhorts them to feed " the Church of God, which he [(iod]
hath purchased with his own blood," Acts xx, 28. Now, sir, God who
hath thus purchased the Church, is peculiarly " God the Son," our Lord
Jesus Christ, who, in the unity of the Father, and of the Spirit, is " the
same one God," whom Bible Christians worship in trinity, because " of
him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for
ever. Amen," Rom. xi, 36.
560 SOCINIANISM UNSCBIPTURAL.
If you ask, How can St. Paul assert the divinity of Christ, when he
writes to the Corinthians that Christ is the " image of God ?" Is there
no ditierence between God and his image ? Will you worship God's
image as if it were God himself? I reply, That there is an imperfect
image, which expresses only a part of the external form of its original,
and a perfect image, which expresses its wliole natui'e, m a perfectly
adequate and living manner. Thus four-footed beasts bear a resem-
blance to men in some thuigs ; but a son who looks, thinks, speaks, and
acts like his father, is a perfect image. Adam was an image of God in
the first sense, and our Lord in the second sense. That Christ is this
living and perfect image of the Father, I prove, (1.) By his own words,
"He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." And (2.) By these
words of the apostle, which follow the text on which the objection rests :
" God [the Spirit, by the light of the Gospel, and by the light of faith]
hath shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God
[the Father] shining in the face of Jesus Christ, w ho is the brightness of
his Father's glory, and the express image of his person," 2 Cor. iv, 6,
and Heb. i, 3. And our Lord's being such an image of God, does not
any more cut him ofi' from divinity, tlian a human son's being the express
image of his father deprives him of the human nature. Therefore this
objection also aftbrds us a new proof of our Lord's divinity. * * * *
LETTERS
THE REV. MR. WESLEY,
ON THE WANT OF
COMMON SENSE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS,
IF SUPF08KD TO HOLD THE
DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S MERE HUMANITY.
BY THE LATE REV. JOSEPH BENSON.
Vol. III. 36
LETTERS
THE REV. MR. WESLEY.*
LETTER I.
Rev, Sir, — The Rev. Mr. Fletcher, whose unfinished letters, at your
desire, are laid before the public in the preceding pages, has just observed
to Dr. Priestley, that if he will not allow St. Paul wrote by inspiration,
he ought at least to allow he wrote with common sense. And most
professors of Christianity will suppose, that if Mr. Fletcher had extended
the observation so as to include the other sacred writers, his demand
would not have been unreasonable. They will be of opinion, that the
doctor ought to allow they all wrote with common sense. And yet to
desire him to allow this, is to desire him to give up his favourite doctrine
of Christ's mere humanity. For only let this doctrine, to say nothing
of other points, be supposed to have been held by these holy writers,
especially by the penmen of the New Testament, and let their writings
be read under that supposition, and I will be bold to affirm that any per-
son, who has himself common sense, will pronounce that, in a multitude
of" instances, the apostles and evangelists wi'ote without it. And to this
test one may venture to submit the matter in dispute between Dr.
Priestley and his antagonists.
The sacred writers, he affirms, r.onsidcred our T-nrd in no other
character than that of a mere man. Well, sir, let us for the present
take this for granted, and let us make experiment how those passages of
their writing, which relate to Christ, read according to this hypothesis.
If they appear to contain common sense, we will allow he has the truth
on his side ; but if not, methinks it would be no unreasonable demand to
require him to own himself in an error. I begin with St. Paul, whose
epistles are now imder consideration, but shall pass slightly over the
epistle to the Romans, and the first to the Corinthians, because Mr,
Fletcher has already reviewed these epistles. I shall, however, refer
to a few passages. From the others I shall quote more largely.
In the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans, according to Dr.
Priestley's doctrine, we must understand the apostle as follows : —
C'hapter i, 1 : — " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ," that is, a servant
of a mere man, " called to be an apostle, [not of men, as he informs the
Calatians, chap, i, 1, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ," a mere
man ! " and Cod the Father, who raised him from the dead] separated
* Though the aged and truly reverend minister of Christ, to vvliom these let-
ters are addressed, is now no more ; yet, as thny were written and presented to
him many months before his death, it is judged best to give them to the public in
their original form.
564 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
iinto the Gospel of God, — concerning his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord,"
a mere man, " made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, by whom," though a mere
man, " we have received grace and apostleship : among whom ye are
also the called of Jesus Christ," — that is, the called of a mere man,
once indeed on earth, bulTfiow confined to heaven, and whom, therefore,
ye Romans never saw, nor heard, nor could have any access to, or
intercourse with, or be called by, — " to all that be at Rome, — grace be
unto you, and peace from God our Father," the self-existent, inde-
pendent, supreme, and everlasting Jehovah, " and from the Lord Jesus
Christ," a mere man, who had no existence till about forty and fifty
years ago, but who, nevertheless, is the source and fountain, the author
and giver of grace and peace, conjointly with the supreme God !
Now, sir, would any man, who believed the mere humanity of Christ,
have expressed himself in this absurd manner? Would he have spoken
of being called to be an apostle, not of man, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ, if he had believed Jesus Christ to be no more than a man?
Would he, in mentioning his being of the seed of David, have added
the words, according to the flesh, thereby manifestly intimating that
Christ had a nature which was not from David ? Would he have spoken
of receiving grace and apostleship, through this mere man, and have
looked up to him, in conjunction with the eternal God, for grace and
peace to be conferred upon the Churches to which he ministered ? I
think, dear sir, the doctor himself would hardly affirm it : but if he
would aflirrn it, then I ask why his own practice and that of his brethren
is so very different from this apostolic pattern? Why do they never
express themselves in any such manner as this, either in their prayers
or sermons, nor apply to Christ, in union with his Father, for grace, or
peace, or any other blessing ?
I shall give another instancp nut of the fifth chapter : " When WC
were yet without strength, in due time Christ," a mere man, says the
doctor, " died for the ungodl}^ God commended his love toward us, in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ," a mere man ! " died for us,"
viz. one mere man for the whole human race ! " Much more, then,
being now justified by his blood," — the blood of one mere man ! " we
shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled unto God," many millions as we are ! " by the death
of his Son," viz. the death of one mere man ! " much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved [from everlasting damnation] by his life,"
the life of the same mere man ! " If by one [mere] man's offence,
death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace,
and of the gift, of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ,"
although also but a mere man !
Pass we on to the eighth chapter. " There is, therefore, now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," that is, that are in a
mere man ! " For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," — that
is, the law of the spirit of life in a mere man ! " hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that
it was weak through the flesh — God hath done, sending his own [(5iov,
proper] Son in the likeness of sinful flesh," that is, if Dr. Priestley be
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTITHAL. 565
right, causing a mere man to be born! — "and by a sacrifice for sin,
[the doctor says, by dying a martyr, merely to confirm the truth,] con-
demned sin in the flesh." Verse 8, " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you : now, if any man have
not the Spirit of Clnist," that is, the spirit of a mere man ! " he is
none of his : but if Christ be in you," — viz. if a mere man, crucified in
Judea, 1700 years ago, and now in heaven, be in you, — "the body in-
deed is dead, [is mortal,] because of sin ; but the Spirit is life, [is im-
mortal,] because of righteousness. And he that spared not his own Son,"
that spared not one mere man ! " but delivered him up for us all ; how
shall he not with him, also, fi'eely give us all things?" that is, on the
doctor's principles, if he delivered one mere man to die a martyr to con-
firm the truth of the Gospel, how shall he not, with him, dehver millions
of men from everlasting damnation, and put them in possession of eternal
salvation ! The apostle proceeds : " Who sliall lay any thing to the
charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth, who is he that con-
demneth ? It is Christ," a mere man ! " that died : yea, rather, that is
risen again : who is even at the right hand of God ; who also maketh
intercession for us. Wlio shall separate us from the love of Christ ?"
the love of a mere man ! " Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written, For thy
sake," mere man though thou art ! " we are killed all the day ; we are
appointed as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we are
more than conquerors through him," that is, through a mere man !
" that hath loved us." Strange language this from the mouth of a
scholar, a Christian, and an apostle ! Nay, who can reconcile it with
common sense?
But to proceed : slill more irreconcilable therewith is the language
of the same apostle, in tlie two next chapters. " 1 say the truth in
Christ," that is, in a mere man, by whom I tbus swear, and to whom I
thus appeal ; though as a mere man, now in heaven, he certainly cannot
know my heart, nor bp a witness in any such matter ; however, " I lie
not ; my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I
have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart — for my brethren,
— my kinsmen according to the flesh — of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came." Here again one might inquire what ideas the
apostle, if speaking of a mere man, could annex to the words, " as
concerning the flesh :" surely if Christ be a mere man, his whole person
was from the Jews, as much as the person of St. Paul himself. And
would it not be absurd, if, speaking of that apostle's progenitors and his
descent from them, one were to express one's self in a similar manner,
and say, Of whom, as concerning the flesh, St. Paul came ? Those,
indeed, who believe the soul to be inspired immediately from God, and
not received by traduction from our parents, may suppose that the
phraseology, though unusual, and unprecedented when applied to a
mere man, is, however, not quite improper : but the doctor cannot avail
himself of any such distinction between the soul and body ; for he
teaches that man has no soul, distinct from his body; and that even
Jesus Christ had none. On his principles, therefore, the expression is
doubly absurd. But what shall we say of the following clause : " Who
is over all, God blessed for ever ?" How many absurdities, on the
566 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY,
doctor's hypothesis, are wrapped up in this half sentence ? To say
that a mere man is over all, to term him God, to affirm that he is
blessed, and that for ever ! Surely reason and common sense could no
more have a hand in dictating this than the Spirit of inspiration.
And what, on the doctor's principles, has common sense to do with
the following passage, which we find in the next chapter? " Say not in
thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ from
above ? or. Who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring him back
from the dead ?" For if he be a mere man, who had no existence till
begotten by Joseph, and conceived in the womb of Mary, why docs the
apostle speak of " bringing him down from above?" Surely if the latter
clause : " Who shall descend into the deep [that is, into the grave, or
into the state of the dead] to bring him back from the dead?" would
imply an absurd inquiry, if he never had been in the grave, or in the
state of the dead : so the former clause proposes a question equally
ridiculous, if Jesus Christ, before his appearing among us, never had
been above.
The apostle goes on, according to the Socinian principles, in the same
strain of absurdity, (verse 11 :) "The Scripture saith. Whosoever be-
lieveth on him," a mei'e man though he be, " shall not be ashamed : for
the same Lord over all," though but a man ! " is rich unto all that call
upon him : for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not be-
heved? And how shall they believe in him," the mere, man! "of
whom they have not heard ? And how shall they hear without a
preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent ?"*
There are sundry other passages in the remaining chapters of this
epistle, which, I am persuaded, no person that believed the doctrine of
Christ's mere humanity, and was possessed of common sense, could have
dictated or written. The tnllowing are among the most i-emarkable.
Chap, xi, 26, " The Deliverer [a mcro man] shall come out of Zion,
and shall turn away miquity from Jacob." Chop, xiv, 6, " He that re-
gardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, [viz. unto a mere man !]
and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord [the same mere man] he
doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, [a mere man,]
and he that eateth not to the Lord [the same mere man] he eateth not.
For none of us [real Christians] hveth to himself, and no man dieth to
himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, [that is, unto a
mere man !] or whether we die, we die unto the Lord, [the same mere
man ;] whether living or dying, therefore, we are the Lord's [that is,
we are the property of a mei'e man !] For, to this end Christ both died,
and rose, and hveth ; tjjat [though a mere man !] he might be Lord both
of the dead and livuig ! For we shall all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ, [the judgment seat of a mere man !] for it is written, As I
live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue con-
fess to God. So then every one of us shall give an account of himself
to God. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus [a mere man !]
there is nothing unclean of itself. For the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. He that
* In proof that tliis is to be understood of Christ, see Vindication, vol. vi, p.
441, and vol. vii, p. 43.
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 567
in these things serveth Christ, [that is, serveth a mere man !] is accept-
able to God."
Chap. XV, 7, " Receive ye one another, as Christ also [a mere man !]
hath received us to the glory of God. Verse 12, Esaias saith there
shall be a root of Jesse, [viz. a mere man, not born till many hundred
years after Jesse, and yet the root from which Jesse sprung !] and he
that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him [though a mere man,
and though it be written. Cursed is the man that trusteth in man ; yet in
him I say] shall the Gentiles trust ! 1 will not dare, (verse 18,) to speak
of those things which Christ, [a mere man,] hath not wrought by me,
to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, — through mighty signs
and wonders, by the power of tlie Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem
and roimd about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of
Christ. Now, I beseech j'ou, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's
sake, [that is, for the sake of a mere man !] and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive togetlier with me in your prayers to God for me :" —
Chapter xvi, 3, " Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ
Jesus, [that is, in a mere man !] Salute my well beloved Epenetus, who
is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ, [a mere man !] Salute Andro-
nicus and Junius, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who were in
Christ [the mere man] before me. Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ,
[who you know is a mere man !] The Churches of Christ, [that is, the
Churches of a mere man !] salute you. Mark them that cause divisions,
for they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, serve
not a mere man !] but their own belly. The grace of [this mere man!]
our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you ! Amen ! [I say again, verse 24,]
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the same mere man !] be with
you all !"
These, reverend sir, are a few of the many passages in the Epistle to
the Romans, relating to Christ, which, when opened with Dr. Priestley's
key, and interpreted according to his doctrine, appear to be so absurd,
that I think no person pretending to common sense would have written
them. And as a proof that the doctor and his brethren consider them
as absurd, or at least incompatible with their scheme, they are rarely
observed to use such either from the pulpit or the press : " Serving
Christ, preaching Christ, being in Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the grace
of Christ ; Christ made of the seed of David according to the flesh ; sent
in the likeness of sinful flesh ; Christ dying for us, reconciling us to God
by his death, — giving us redemption in his blood, — being the end of the
law for righteousness," &c, &;c, are expressions seldom, if ever, heard
from their pulpit, or read in their books. And no wonder : for they are
expressions which but ill agree with their doctrine of Christ's mere
humanity. They are like the head of gold, and breast of silver, in Ne-
buchadnezzar's image, joined with feet and toes of iron and clay.
I am, reverend, sir, vour obedient son, in the Gospel of God our
Saviour,
Joseph Benson.
568 LETTEBS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEV.
LETTER II.
Rev. Sir, — In the last letter we reviewed sundry passages quoted from
the Epistle to the Romans, and found, I think, that on the supposition of
the author's holding the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, he paid little
regard, I will not say to Divine inspiration, or to conclusive reasoinng,
but even to common sense, in writing that epistle. I now proceed to the
first Epistle to the Corinthians, the very inscription of which, and benedic-
tion pronounced immediately after, demonstrate, either that the Sociuian
doctrine is false, or that St. Paul wrote, to say the least, very absurdly.
" Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, [that is, an apostle of a mere man !]
unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified
in Cluist Jesus, [viz. sanctified in a mere man!] called to be saints, with
all that in every place cull upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
both theirs and ours, [that is, call upon the name of a mere man !] Grace
to you, and peace from God our Father, tmd from the Lord Jesus Christ,"
who, though no more than a man, is able conjointly with the self-exist-
ent Jehovah, to confer grace and peace upon all the Churches.
" I thank my God, [proceeds he, verse 4,] always on your behalf for
the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus, [that is, by a mere
man !] that in eveiy thing ye are enriched by him [a mere man though
he be !] in all utterance, and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of
Christ [this mere man] was confirmed among you, so that ye came
behind in no gift, waituig for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who,
[though he be a mere man] shall confirm you unto the end, that ye
may be blameless in the day of [the same mere man] our Lord Jesus
Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord," I mean, the fellowship of a mere man !
Now what a group of absurdities have we in these few verses ! An
apostle of a mere man ! Sanctified in a mere man! Calling upon the name
of a mere man ! Deriving grace and peace from a mere man ! Enriched
by a mere man in all utterance and in all knowledge ! Confirmed unto the
end by a mere man ! Waiting continually for the coming of a mere man !
Surely this kind of language savours more of lunacy than of a sound
mind, and betrays as great a want of reason or common sense, as of
learning or inspiration. And yet one can hardly open any where in
this or in the other epistles of this apostle, but, on the supposition of his
being a Unitarian in the sense of Dr. Priestley and Socinus, one meets
with absurdities equally numerous and glaring. Thus in the verses
which immediately follow : —
" Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
[viz. the name of a mere man,] that ye all speak the same thing. Was
Paul [a mere man] crucified for you ? or were yc baptized into the name
of Paul ? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius,
lest any should say that I [a mere man !] baptized in my own name,
[the name of a mere man.] For Christ [another mere man ! J did not
send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of speech,
lest the cross of Christ [that is, the cross of a mere man!] slioukl be
made of none etfect. For the doctrine of the cross is indeed, to them
that perish, foohshness ; but to us who are saved, it is the power of (jod,
verse 23. We preach Christ [a mere man!] crucified, unto the Jews a
SOCIMAXISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 569
Stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them who are
called, Christ [the same mere man] the wisdom of God, and the power
of God! Of him are ye in Christ Jesus [viz. in a mere man] who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and re-
demption." A mere man, the wisdom of God and the power of God :
yea, wisdom and righteousness, that is, the source and author of wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption, to all that beheve!
Strange doctrine this indeed, and very increilible !
Thus again in the next chapter : "I determined not to know any thing
among you but Jesus Christ, [that is, I determined not to know any thing
but a mere man !] and him crucified. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, which none of the princes of this world knew ; for had they
known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," that is, a
mere man !
Again, chapter iii, 11:" Other foundation can no man lay than that
is laid, wliich is Jesus Christ," a mere man : that is, a mere man is the
one foundation of the whole Church, with all its doctrines, privileges, and
duties ! All believers, in all nations and ages, are built upon a mere man !
And, chapter v, this doctrine supposes the apostle to speak as follows :
" In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, in the name of a mere
man,] when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ, [viz. the power of a mere man,] to deliver such
a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Will Dr. Priestley, or any of the
Socinians, tell us how the power of a mere man, confined in the third
licaven, could be exerted and felt on earth, and that in thousands and
myriads of congregations at the same time ? And will they inform us
how sinners of every description could be washed, (as the apostle ex-
presses it in the sixth chapter,) sanctified, and justified in the name of
this mere man ?
Pass we on to the seventh chapter : " Unto the married I command,
yet not I [a mere man, as you know I am] but the Lord, [another
and a greater mere man !] Let not the wife depai't from her husband.
But to the rest speak I, [a mere man,] and not the Lord, [particularly
the other and greater mere man,] verse 22, He that is called in the
Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's [that mere man's] freeman. Like-
wise, also, he that is called, being free, is Christ's [the same mere man's]
servant. Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men."
Howbeit, ye may be the servants of Christ, who himself is but a man ?
Now how ridiculous is this language ! How unworthy of the lips, I
will not say of an inspired apostle, enlightened with Divine wisdom, but
of any rational creature, however illiterate and uninformed ! And yet
this and such like language every advocate lor the mere humanity of
Christ, who acknowledges the authenticity of these epistles, and supposes
their author to have been a Unitarian, puts into the mouth of the apostle ;
nay, and makes him utter it almost with every breath, even as often as
he has occasion to speak of his Master, which, it is well known, is very
frequently.
The Socinians glory much in the sixth verse of the next chapter, be-
cause the apostle there asserts, with great plainness, the unity of God ;
but even tliat passage affords a striking instance of the absurd and
570 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
ridiculous doctrine I mention. For if he affirm that " to us tliere is
but one God the Father, of whom are all things," a truth we should be
sorry to disbelieve or deny, persuaded as we are, that he is what his
name imports, the Father of all, even of his beloved Son, his incarnate
Word ; if, I say, he affirms this, he affirms with equal plainness, that
there is " one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things :" and how all
things could be by a mere man. who had no existence till they had been
made and preserved at least tbur thousand years, it may perhaps puzzle
even Dr. Priestley to show. Nor have we far to read before we find
another proof of the absurdity of supposing St. Paul to hold the doctrine
of Christ's mere humanity. Verse 12, he says, " When ye sin so against
the brethren and wound tlieir weak consciences, ye sin against Christ :"
that is, according to this hypothesis, " When ye sin against mere men,
ye also sin against a mere man !" To this mere man, as the Socinians
think him, the apostle declares himself, in the next chapter, to be " under
the law," and, chapter x, affinns that the Israelites tempted him in the
wilderness, that is, if the Socinians be right, tempted him two thousand
years before he existed. And while the ungodly among them thus re-
belled and vexed the Holy Spirit of their Lawgiver, and their Judge,
the faithful applied to him as their Saviour, and received salvation from
him, for " they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that
Rock was Christ," the Rock of Ages, and the fountain of livuig waters
to his Church, and yet, according to Dr. Priestley, a mere man!
If it seem strange to us that persons of sense and learning should
patronize a doctrine which fathers such nonsense upon an inspired
apostle, our wonder will in some measure cease, if we pass on to the
twelfth chapter of this epistle. There the apostle botli gives us the true
reason why men embrace the Socinian hypothesis, and furnishes us with
a striking example of iho absurdity of attempting to reconcile it with his
doctrine. " I give you to understand (says he) that no man, speaking
by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say
that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." They have not received
the Holy Ghost ; they are not enlightened by that Divine Spirit ; he has
not taken of the things of Jesus, and shown unto them; has not revealed
Christ to them, and therefore they do not, in the tme and Scriptural
sense, call Jesus Lord, but degrade him into a mere man. The apostle
goes on : " Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit," from
whom they proceed, " and there are. differences of administrations, but
the same Lord," the same mere man, says Socinus, that appoints them
all, " and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who
worketh all in all." In other words, according to the Socinian doctrine,
all the gifts, offices, and effects, produced in the Church of Christ, are
from the Holy Ghost, from a mere man, and from the self-existent
Jehovah.
Permit me, Rev. sir, to refer you to a few more passages of this
epistle, as instances of the absm'dity of supposing the apostle to have
held Dr. Priestley's sentiments concerning the mere humanity of Christ.
Chap. XV, 45, we read : " The first Adam was made a living soul, the
last Adam is a quickening Spirit ;" that is, according to the doctor, a
mere man is a quickening Spirit ! " "^Tlie first man was from the earth,
earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven :" that is, a mere
SOCrNIAiXlSM CNeORTPTURAL. 571
man, descended from Joseph and Mary, is tlie Lord trwn neaven ! " I
protest by your rejoicing, which I also have in Christ Jesus, [a mere
man,] I die daily. Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, through a mere man !] There-
fore be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, [viz. the work of a mere man !] forasmuch as ye know that
your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord," [the same mere man !]
Chap, xvi, 21 : " The salutation of me Paul with my own hand. If any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, love not a mere man !] let
him be anathema [let him be accursed] maranatha ; [that is, the Lord,
the same mere man, cometh.] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
[viz. the grace of a mere man !] be with you. My love be with you
all in Christ Jesus," [the same mere man !]
You see, dear sir, the first Epistle to the Corinthians, when interpreted
according to the Socinian doctrine, no more appears to have been written
with common sense, than the Epistle to the Romans. Nay, if Jesus
Christ be a mere man, some parts of it are impious, as well as absurd.
It is inscribed to those that " call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ;"
that is, if Jesus be no more than a man, it is inscribed to idolaters.
And both that and many other passages of it manifestly countenance and
encourage idolatiy. To represent grace and peace as being derived
from the Lord Jesus, as well as from God the Father, and to ask " gi-ace
of him" for the Churches : to speak of being "enriched by him in all
utterance, and in all knowledge, of being confirmed by him to the end,"
and called into " his tellowship," of " preaching him, the wisdom and
power of God ;" " the wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and re-
demption" of his followers ; of being determined to " know nothing but
him :" to call him the " Lord of glory," even that Lord " by whom are
all things," and represent him as the only " foundation" of " his Church,"
that is or can be laid ; as the " Lord that shall come" and bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the
heart : to speak of the power of this person being with them that are
gathered together delivering an offender to Satan : to hold him forth as
our Passover crucified for us, and " dying for our sins," according to the
Scriptures : to teach that believers are " washed, justified, and sanctified
in his name ;" are his members joined to him, in one spirit, and not their
own but his, bought w ith a price : to term him the Lord almost in every
breath, and that eminently and absolutely without any, the least, restric
tion or limitation ; and represent himself and all the apostles, nay, and
all Christians and ministers through all the world, as his servants : to
speak of his ordaining laws for his Church ; and of his followers being
" under the law" to him : to talk of " sinning against him, tempting
him, and provoking him to jealous)'," and to pronounce those accursed
that do not love him : surely this is not only absurd, but even pernicious
doctrine, if he be no more than a man.
Equally pernicious, as well as absurd, are sundry passages of his
second epistle to the same people. He begins it, as he had done the
former, by styling himself an " apostle of Jesus Christ," and asking
grace and peace of him, as well as of his supreme and everlasting Fa-
ther ! Verse fifth he mentions his consolations as " abounding through
■liim," and chap, ii, 14, speaks of their "triumphing in him," and being
572 LETTERS TO TnE REV. MR. WESLEY.
*' unto God a sweet savour in him," in them tliat are saved, and in tliem
that perish. Chap, i, 19, he calls him that " »Son of God," whom he,
Sylvanus, and Timotheus had preached, and declares that he was not
yea and nay, hut that all the promises of God in liim are " Yea," and in
him "Ami,..." And chap, iv, 5, he assures us they " preached not
themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord :" that is, according to this doc-
trme, they preached not mere men, but a mere man ! " and themselves
the servants of the Churches for Jesus' sake," viz. for the sake of a
mere man ! And verse 11 : " Always delivered unto death for his sake,
[viz. for the sake of a mere man !] that the life also of Jesus," adds he,
" miglit be made manifest in our mortal flesh." The reason of this
their entire devotedness to Christ, we learn, chap, v, 14, 15, "The love
of Christ constrained them ;" that is, according to Dr. Priestley, the
love of a mere man ! " while they thus judged," thus believed and re-
flected, "that if one [mere man] died for all, then are all dead : and
that he died for all, that they who live should not live henceforth unto
themselves, but unto him [the mere man !] that died for them, and rose
again." All mankind, therefore, being redeemed by his death, are,
according to this doctrine, under an indispensable obligation of living in
obedience to the will, and of being devoted to the glory of one mere
man! Nay, and the apostles themselves were but ambassadors for
Christ, (that is, ambassadors for a mere man,) as though God, adds
he, did " beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, [the stead
of a mere man !] be ye reconciled to God : for he hath made him
[though but one mere man] a sin offering for us, [many millions of mere
men,] that we might be the righteousness of God [might be justified and
made righteous by God] in him." How all true believers should be
justified and made righteous through one mere man, is surely, to say the
least, not easy to conceive.
Proceed we to the eighth chapter. " Ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that, though he w^as rich, for our sakes he became
poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich." Will Doctor
Priestley, or any Socinian, inform us when and how Christ was rich, on
their hypothesis, and when and in what sense he became poor? And
will he tell us how, on the supposition of his being a mere man, he can
act the part of a spiritual husband, to all the faithful in every nation and
age, guiding, protecting, and comforting them, nay, and supplying all
their wants ? " I have espoused you [many millions as ye are] to one
husband, (says the apostle, chap, xi, 2,) that I may present you a chaste
virgin to Christ." The apostle goes on : " But I fear lest your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that
Cometh preach another Jesus [another mere man] whom we have not
preached, or if ye receive another Spirit [from that mere man] which
ye have not received, ye might well bear with him."
Above all, I would recommend the paragraph that follows, to the con-
sideration of those who view Christ as a mere man, and therefore judge
that it would be idolatry to worship him. (.'haj). xii, 7, speaking of his
thorn in the flesh, he says : " For this thing I besought the Lord [that
is, I besought a mere man ! see verse ninth] thrice, that it might depart
from me, and he said unto me. My grace [though I am but a mere
«nan !] is suflicient for thee, for my strength [mere man as 1 am !] is
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL, 573
made perfect [is perfectly displayed] in weakness ! Most gladly there-
fore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ [the power
of a mere man !] may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, &c, for Christ's sake, [that is, f >r the sake of
a mere man !] for when I am weak, then [through the help. oi this mere
man] I am strong !" This surely is ridiculous in the extreme. And
the 3d, 5th, and 13th verses of chap, xiii, are little better. 3. "Ye
seek a proof of Christ [a mere man !] speaking in me. 5. Examine
yourselves whether ye be in the faith. Know ye not that Christ [a
mere man!] is in you, except you be reprobates! Verse 13: "The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, the grace of a mere man !]
and the love of God, [the Supreme Being,] and the fellowship of the
Holy Ghost, [that is, the fellowship of a power or property of God !]
be with you all ! Amen."
Leaving you to wonder. Rev. sir, how any man of sense can patronize
and attempt to reconcile with the Scriptures, a doctrine, which, when
brought to that touchstone, appears to be so absurd and ridiculous, I
subscribe myself yours, &c.
LETTER III.
Rev. Sir, — In the two former letters we reviewed a variety of pas-
sages occurring in the Epistle to the Romans, and the two Epistles to
the Corinthians, which, on the supposition that the author of those epis-
tles held the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, manifestly appear to
have been written without regard to common sense. I proceed now to
lay before you a few texts, of a similar nature, from the lesser epistles
of the same apostle : and several, not a little remarkable in this view,
occur in the very beginning of the first of these epistles. According to
Dr. Priestley's hypothesis, they must be read as follows: — Gal. i, 1,
" Paul an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, [a
mere man !] and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.
Grace to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus
Christ, [from the eternal God and a mere man !] who [though no more
than a man] gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us [many
myiiads as we ai-e !] from this present evil world. I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him' that called you into the grace of Christ, [the
grace of a mere man!] unto another gospel, which is not another; but
there be some that trouble you, and woidd pervert the Gospel of Christ,
[the gospel of a mere man !] Do I now persuade [or solicit the favour
of] man ? or do I seek to please men ? For if I yet pleased men, I
should not [please or] be the servant of Christ, [a mere man !] But I
certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me is not
after man : for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but
by the revelation of Jesus Christ," a mere man !
Now, sir, is not all this very extraordinary? An apostle, not of Twe/i,
neither by man, but by a mere man? If I pleased, or were the servant
of men, I should not bo the servant of a mere man.' The Gospel which I
preached is not after man, but after a mere man! Is not this excellent
sense ? worthy of the learning of the disciple of Gamaliel, and of the
574 LETT13RS TO THE REV. JilR. WESLEY.
inspiration of tlie apostle of God ? The apostle proceeds, verse 15:
" When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me by his grace, — to reveal his Son [that is, to reveal a mere
man !] in me, tliat I might preach him [the same mere man !] among
the heathen," as the grand foundation of their confidence and hope,
1 Cor. iii, 11 ; Eph. i, 12, 13 ; the object of their love, 1 Cor. xvi ; and
spring of their obedience, 2 Cor. v, 14 ; — "immediately I conferred not
with flesh and blood !"
I shall take no notice of what the apostle has delivered with great
clearness in the next chapter, respecting justification by faith in this
7nere man, as the Socinians think him, though absolutely irreconcilable
with their doctrine ; but what he has occasionally remarked, respecting
the union which he had with Christ, and which indeed all that are justi-
fied have with him, must not be passed over, as being perfectly unintelhgi-
ble on their hypothesis. Verse 20, we read, " I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ [a mere man, says Dr.
Priestley] liveth in me ; and the hte I live in the flesh, I live by faith in
the Son of God, [that is, by faith in a mere man,] who hath loved me
ajid given himself for me." Will Dr. Priestley inform us how Christ,
if a mere man, could live in the apostle? And will he tell us how he
could " redeem all [that believe in him, whether Jews or Gentiles] from
the curse of the law, see chap, iii, 13, that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through him ; and mankind might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith ?" John vii, 37, 38.
There are many other passages in this epistle equally absurd on the
Socinian principles. As chap, iv, 14, "Ye received me as an angel of
God, even as [a mere man !] Jesus Christ." Verse 19, " My little chil-
dren, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ [a mere man] be
formed in you !" Chap, v, 1, " Stand fast in the liberty wherewith [a
mere man] Christ hath made us free !" Chap, vi, 2, " Bear ye one
another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ," that is, the law of a
mere man. Verse 14, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the cross of the same mere man,] by
whom [a mere man though he be] the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world. For in [the same mere man] Christ Jesus, neither cir-
CLuncision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Froni henceforth let no man trouble me, for i bear in my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus, [viz. the marks of the sufferings I have endured for
the sake of a mere man !] Brethren, the grace of [this mere man] the
Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit."
Vou see. Rev. sir, that this Epistle to the Galatians, beside the many
passages which are similar to those found in the preceding epistles, has
several of a peculiar nature, in which the Lord Jesus is set in opposition
to men : and to be made an apostle by him, to receive the Gospel from
him, and seeking to please him, are opposed to the being made an apostle
by man, receiving the Gospel from man, and seeking to please man.
Now, in these instances. Dr. Priestley will find it hard work, indeed, to
vindicate, on his hypothesis, the common sense of the apostle. Examine
wc now the Epistle to the Ephesians. This also furnishes us with
many instances of the apostle's writing without common senvse, on the
supposition of his beuig a Unitarian. Passing over the inscription and
SOCINIANISM UNSCRirTURAL. 575
benediction, which are similar to those in the other epistles, verse the
3d, &c, he speaks of the Father as blessing ua, viz. all the faithful,
" with all spiritual blessings in him, choosing us in him to be holy, — pre-
destinating us to the adoption of children, — making us accepted, and
giving us redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins :" and
then, verse 10, he proceeds as follows: — "That in the dispensation of
the fulness of time, he might gather together in one, all things in Christ,
[that is, in a mere man,] both which are in heaven, and which are on
earth, even in him, [mere man though he be !] in whom also we have
obtained an inheritemce, — according to the counsel of his own will, that
we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ,] that
is, who trusted in a mere man !] in whom ye also trusted, [and were so far
fiom being condemned or blamed by God for so doing, that] after ye be-
lieved in him, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is
the earnest of our inheritance." This mere man, verse 20, " the
Father hath set at his own right hand, in heavenly places, far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come ; and hath
put all things under his feet, and given him to be the head over all things
to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him [viz. of the mere
man !] that filleth all in all." Is there any reason or sense in any part
of this paragraph ? How can a tnere man be the head of the Church
universal, not only guiding and governing, but vhi.iially infiuencing all
true believers, in all nations and ages? And how could a mere man
bring Jews and Gentiles nigh to each other by liis blood, as the apostle
observes in the next chapter, or be their " peace, making in himself one
new man ?" And having formed them into one body, how could he
reconcile both unto God, by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby?
or come from heaven, even while he remained there, and preach peace
to the Gentiles, who were far off, and to the Jews that were nigh, grant-
ing unto both " access through himself, [a mere man,] by one Spirit
unto the Father ?"
Another remarkable passage we meet with, chap, iii, 1 : " Unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, [that is,
the unsearchable riches of a mere man !] and to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning hath been
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ ; viz. by a mere man,
who had no existence till all things had been created at least four thou,
sand years ! Such are the absurdities which the Socinian doctrine
fathers upon the disciple of Gamahel, and of the Lord Jesus ! Nay, and
what is worse, makes him utter these absurdities to God upon his knees,
in the most solemn acts of devotion. For instance, verse 14 : "I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom [though a
mere man!] the whole family of heaven and earth is named, that Christ
[mere man as he is!] may dwell ui your hearts by faith! that being
rooted and grounded in love, ye may be able to comprehend with all
saints, what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to
know the love of Christ, which [though it be but the love of a mere
man,] passeth knowledge ! — that ye might be filled with all the fulness
of God." How a mere man should dwell m our hearts, how liis love
576 LETTEKS TO THE REV. MK. WESLEV.
should pass knowledge, and how the knowledge of it, in that degree
which is attainable, should be a mean of filling us with all the fulness
of God, is surely, to say the least, not to be conceived !
Another remarkable instance of the absurdity of supposing the apostle
to have held the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity occurs in the next
chapter, verses 7-17 : " Unto every one of us is grace given, according
to the measure of the gift of Christ, [that is, the gift of a mere man !]
Wherefore he saith, when he [this mere man] ascended up on high, he
led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended,
what is it [what does it imj^ly ] but that he descended first into the
lower parts of the earth?" Will the Socinians inform us how a mere
man, who had no existence till born in Bethlehem, and who of conse-
quence had never been in heaven, could descend from thence 1 " He
that descended (I say).,is the same also that ascended up far above all
heavens, that he [a mere man !] might fill all things. And he [a mere
fnan] gave apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for
the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, [the
body of a mere man !] till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and
knowledge of the Son of God, [the faith and knowledge of a mere man !]
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ. That we may grow up unto him in all things, who [though a
mere man] is the head, from whom the whole body, fitly joined together
and compacted, by that which every joint suppheth, maketh increase of
the body unto the edifying of itself in love !"
Pass we on to the fifth chapter, where we meet with more instances,
and equally striliing : " Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and
[though a mere man !] hath given himself for us, [one mere man to ran-
som millions !] an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling
savour. Wherefore he saith, verse 14, Awake thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ [a mere man] shall give thee light !"
For, though a mere man, he can hear and answer prayer, and give the
light of life to as many as apply to him ! Verse 22 : " Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord, [a mere man,]
for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
Church, and he [a mere man !] is the Saviour of the body ! Therefore
as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own
husbands in eveiy thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the Church, and [though a mere man !] hath given himself for
it that he might sanctify and cleanse it, and present it to himself a glo-
rious Church, not having spot, or wrinlde, or any such thing, that it
should be holy and without blemish ! So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies; for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but
nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as thp. Lord [viz. a mere man !] the
Church; for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones."
The next chapter abounds with instances of a similar kind. ^' Ser-
vants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh,
— in singleness of heart, as unto Christ ; [a mere man !] not with eye
service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Chi'ist, [a mere man !]
doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to
the Lord, [a mere man !] and not to men ' Knowing, that whatsoever
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTUKAL. 577
good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, [this
same mere mau,] whether he be bond or free. And ye masters, do the
same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your Mas-
ter also [a mere man !] is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons
with him. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, [a mere man !]
and in the power of his might ! Peace be to the brethren, and love,
with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, [the supreme
God and a mere man !] Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus
Christ [the mere man I so often name] in sincerity!" Wishing, reverend
sir, that should Dr. Priestley tliink it worth his wliile to show us how the
sundry passages quoted in this letter from the Epistles to the Galatians
and Ephesians might, consistently with common sense, be written by one
who held the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, he may not forget to
tell us how his unwearied endeavours to degrade the Lord Jesus are
consistent with loving him in sincerity, I subscribe myself, &c.
LETTER IV.
Rev. Sir, — Though I made no particular remark upon it, yet I hope,
in looking over the last letter, it would not escape your notice, that in
the Epistle to the Ephesians also, as well as in that to the Galatians, the
apostle repeatedly opposes the Lord Jesus Christ to men. " Not with
eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ. With good
will, doing service as to the Lord, [viz. Christ,] and not to men." Now
on the Socmian principles this is saying, not as men pleasers, but as
man pleasers ; doing service as to a man and not to men !
The Epistle to the Philippians comes next in course, and contains a
similar doctrine as to the point in question, with the epistles already con-
sidered. Indeed, the apostle is consistent with himself in all his epistles,
and \according to the doctor's hypothesis, consistent in inconsistency.
Here, as before, he styles himself (not indeed an apostle but) a servant
of Jesus Christ, and represents Timothy as being joined with himself in
this state of servitude to a mere man, and from this mere man, as well as
irom the almighty God, he begs grace and peace for the saints at Philippi,
as he had done tor the Churches to which the preceding epistles are
addressed. And then, verse 12, he writes: "I would that you should
observe, brethren, that my bonds in Christ [my bonds endured for a mere
man !] are manifest in all the palace : and some preach Christ [preach
a mere man !j even of envy and strife, and some also of good will. The
one preach Christ [the same mere man] of contention ; but the other of
love. What then ? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence,
or in truth, Christ [the mere man] is preached, and I therein do rejoice,
yea, and I will rejoice : for 1 know that this shall turn to my salvation
through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, [that
is, the supply of the spirit of a mere man !] according to my earnest ex-
pectation, and my hope, that in nothhig I shall be ashamed, but that with
all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ [a mere man !] shall be
magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death. For me to live
is Christ, [that is, a mere man ' is the supreme end of my life, and I
value mv life only as it is capable of being referred to the purposes of
Vol. IIL 37
578 LETTERS TO THE EEV. MB. WESLEY.
his honour !'] and to die is gain, and what I shall choose I wot not, for I
am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ,
[the mere man I speak of,] which is far better ; nevertheless, to abide in
the flesh is more needful for you : that your rejoicing may be more
abundant in Jesus Christ [the same mere man] by my coming to you
again. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of
Christ, [viz. the gospel of a mere man :] in nothing terrified by your
adversaries ; for to you it is given in behalf of Christ, [in behalf of a
mere man !] not only to believe in him, but also to suflfer for his sake,"
[for the sake of the same mere man !] A strange doctrine this indeed !
But to proceed. Chap, ii, 1, we read: "If there be any consolation
in Christ, [that is, on the principles I oppose, in a mere man !] if any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, fulfil ye my joy : and
let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who [though but
a mere man, that had no existence till born at Bethlehem, in the days
of Augustus Cesar, yet] being, vifap-xj^v, subsisting in the form of God,
[that is, say the Socinians, being endowed, like Moses and others, with
the power of working miracles !] thought it not robbery to be equal with
God ;" a mere man thought it not robbery to be equal with God ! or as
the doctor's party, contrary to the natural and proper import of the
words, wish to translate it, did not assume an equality with God, — that
is, a mere man manifested great humility in not assuming an equality
with God \ The apostle goes on, but " emptied himself, taking the form
of a servant, made in the likeness of men, [that is, a mere man, who
was ' made in the likeness of men, and emptied himself that he might
be made in that likenes-s !] and being found in fashion as a man, [for in
what other fashion was it reasonable to suppose a mere man could be
found?] he humbled himself, [sfill more,] and became obedient unto
death. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name above every name, that at the name of Jesus [viz. the name of a mere
man !] every knee should bow, of tliose in heaven, and those in earth,
and those under the earth ; and that eveiy tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ [a mere man !] is Lord, to the glory of God the Father !"
I appeal here to any reasonable man, whether it were possible for any
one possessed of common sense, to believe Jesus Christ to be a mere
man, and yet to write in this maimer : and I appeal to any person pos-
sessed of a grain of piety, a single spark of the fear of God, whether he
could consider the Son of God as a mere man, and yet speak as follows :
" I trust in the Lord Jesus [ver. 19, that is, on the Socinian hypothesis,
I trust in a mere man] to send I'imotheus shortly unto you, for I have
no man like minded ; for all seek their own, not the things which are
Jesus Christ's, [that is, which are a mere man's;] him 1 hope to send,
and 1 trust in the Lord [the same mere man,] that also myself shall come
shortly." Surely the putting our trust in a mere man for things which
are wholly in God's power, and absolutely at his disposal, is flagrant
idolatry, and the open declaration of that trust is a public avowal of that
idolatry.
Indeed, if Christ be a mere man, St. Paul idolized him almost as often
as he mentioned him. Many instances occur in the next chapter.
" Finally, my brethren, (says he, ver. 1,) rejoice in the Lord, [viz. in a
mere man J for (ver. 3) we ai'c the circumcision who worship God in the
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAl. 579
Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Ver. 7 : What things were gain to
me, those I counted loss for Christ, [that is, for a mere man !] Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the know-
ledge of [this same mere man] Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom [though
but a man] I have suffered the loss of all things, and I do count them
but dung, that I may win Christ, [that is, that I may win a mere man,]
tmd be found in liim, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that wliich is through the faith of Christ, [faith in a mere man !]
the righteousness which is of God by faith : that I may know him, [may
know a mere man !] and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death : that I may ap-
prehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus," that is,
of a mere man ! As this is certainly magnifying a mere man too
much ; so m the passage following, (ver. 50,) tlie apostle speaks of ex-
pecting from him what no mere man can possibly perform: "We look,"
says he, " for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our
vile body, that it may be fashioned hke unto his glorious body^ according
to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself."
The apostle, however, was not only persuaded of Christ's ability to do
all this, but believed that he could even impart strength to others, assuring
us, in the thirteenth verse of the next chapter, that he himself could " do
all things, [viz. all things which it was his duty to do,] through Christ
strengthening him," whose grace, therefore, before he puts a period to
his epistle, he desires for the PhiUppians, as in his other epistles he docs
for the other Churches, saying, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
[that is, as Dr. Priestley will have it, the grace of a mere man !] be with
you all ! Amen !"
Such, Rev. sir, according to Dr. Priestley's hypothesis, is the doctrine
of St. Paul concerning Christ, in his Epistle to the PhiUppians ; a doc-
trine which I think every intelligent reader must pronounce most absurd
and ridiculous. To rejoice so excessively that a mere man was preached,
though at the expense of many and extreme suH'erings endured by those
who preached him : to represent serving and glorifying him as the one
great end of hving, and to intimate that life itself was only desirable so
far as it answered that end : to censure those who sought their own
things, and not the things of this mere man : to speak of trusting in him,
expecting the supply of his Spirit, and being able to do all things through
his help : to lay it down as a principal branch of the character of a
Christian to rejoice in him, and repeatedly to exhort all Christians to do
this : to mention it as a great favour to be permitted to sufier for him,
and to represent all things as vile and worthless, when compared to the
" excellency of his knowledge :" to speak with satisfaction of having
won him, though with the loss of every thing beside, even hberty and
life, just about to be s-acrificed for his sake ; and to rejoice that he was
magnified whatever his servant might endure : to proclaim him as "able
to change even our vile bodies, and make them conformable to his own
glorious body," nay, and to " subdue all things to himself;" and to begin
and end his epistle with solemn prayer, addressed to him for grace to be
conferred upon the people to whom he wrote : surely these things (to
say nothing of the celebrated passage in whic[i this mere man, as the
doctor thinks him, shines forth m the form of God, and is declared to be
580 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
equal with God) are very extraordinary, and not to be reconciled with
sound reason or common sense, any more than with inspiration or piety.
I proceed now to the Epistle to the Colossians, which will also fiirnish
us with a variety of examples of a similar kind. Having informed us,
ver. 14, that "we have redemption through his blood, [that is, if we
may believe Dr. Priestley, through the blood of a mere man !] even the
forgiveness of sins," he adds, " who is the image of the invisible God,
the first born of every creature, for by him [though a mere man, born
in the daj^s of Augustus Cesar] were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions, principalities or powers : all things were created by
him [this mere man] and for him, [the same mere man !] and he [though
he had no existence till about sixty years ago*] is before all things, and
by him [a mere man !] all things consist. And he is the head of his
body the Church : the beginning, the first born fi'om the dead : that in
all things he [a mere man !] might have the pre-eminence. For it
pleased the Father that in him [a mere man !] should all fulness dwell,
and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to recon-
cile all things to himself: by him, [a mere man !] I say, whether they
be things on earth, or in heaven." Surely this is unparalleled ! No
nonsense that ever was uttered, can equal it ! The apostle proceeds :
" And you who were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds by
Avicked works, yet now hath he [a mere man !] reconciled in the body
of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblamable, and
imreprovable in his sight [the sight of the same mere man !] The
mystery, ver. 26, hid from ages, and from generations, is now made
manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery, among the Gentiles, which is Christ
[a mere man !] in you the hope of glory ; whom [a mere man though he
be !] we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all
wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus [the
same mere man.] Whereunto I also labour according to his v/orking,
[that is, the working of a mere man !] wliich tvorketh in me mightily."
Now is not this strange doctrine? A mere man hath reconciled to
God those that were alienated and enemies in their mixids by wicked
works ! A mere man is in them, many thousands and myriads as they
are, the hope of glory, that is, the foundation and source of their hope !
A mere man works mightily in and by his apostle. The Gospel, chap,
ii, 2, is the mystery of the eternal God and of a mere man ! And in a
mere man, verse 3, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge !
He goes on : " And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with
enticing words. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
[the mere man I speak of,] so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in
him, [the same mere man !] and established in the faith. Beware then
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tra-
dition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ, [a
mere man !] For in him, [mere man as he is !] dwelleth all the ftilness
of the Godhead bodily ; and ye are comj)lete in him, who [though but a
man] is the head of all principality and power." Observe, sir, " All the
* St. Paul is supposed toJiave written this epistle, as also that to the Ephesians,
about the year of our Lord 63.
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 581
fulness of the Godhead bodil}^ " (or substantially) dwells m a mere man !
and a mere man is the head of " all principality and power !"
The apostle mentions afterward the " worshipping of angels," and
opposes it to holding the head, " from wliich (adds he) all the body, [the
Church universal, with every member thereof,] with joints and bands,
having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with all the
increase of God." So that it seems, this mere man ministers spiritual
nourishment to every true member of his mystical body, that is, to every
tme believer in every pait of the world, and causeth them all to increase
with all the increase of God ! I hope, if Dr. Priestley cannot show how
this is done, he can at least prove that it is possible ; and that this same
mere man is capable also of being our life, as the apostle observes in
the next chapter, verse 4, and our all, verse 11, and even in all that
believe !
Many are the passages in the remaining part of this epistle, in which
the apostle atfirms of Christ, or ascribes to him what common sense
will pronounce cannot belong to a mere man. For example : « Forgiv-
ing one another, if any man have a complaint against any ; even as
Christ [a mere man] forgave you, so also do ye — and whatsoever ye do
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, [that is, in the
name of a mere man !] giving thanks to God, even the Father, by him.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord
[a mere man.] Servants, obey in all things your masters according to
the flesh, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, [a mere
man !] and not unto men ; knowing that of the Lord yc shall receive the
reward of the inheritance, for ye serve [a mere man !] tlic Lord Christ !
Chapter iv. Masters, give unto your servants tliat which is just and
equal, knowing that ye also iiave a Master, [viz. a mere man !] in hea-
ven. (12.) Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, [that is,
of a mere man !] saluteth you. (I?.) Say to Archippus, take heed of
the ministry which thou hast received of the Lord [a mere man !] to
fulfil it. Grace be with you ! Amen '"
Methinks, reverend sir, it must be unpossible for any one to pay the
slightest attention to the above texts, quoted from the Epistle to the Co-
lossians, and here interpreted according to Dr. Priestley's hypothesis,
without being convinced that his doctrine, and that of St. Paul, concern-
ing the person and offices of Christ, are absolutely irreconcilable on the
principles of common sense. Would any man, who was not absolutely
an idiot or lunatic, if he believed Jesus Christ to be no more than a
man, have held him up to view as the person, "by whom all things were
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible ;"
nay, as the person for whom, as well as by whom, they were created,
and who, of consequence, existed " before all things, and by whom all
things consist" and are upheld ? Would he have represented him as a
person " in whom all fulness dwells," yea, " all the fulness of the God-
iiead bodily," and as " the head of his body, the Church," and not a
head of guidance or government only, but of vital influence also?
Would he have taught it as a great and important mystery, hid from
ages and generations of old, but now made manitest to the saints, that
this mere man was in real Christians " their hope of glory," working
mightily in and by his apostles and servants ?
582 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
Farther, would he, in speaking of the mystety of the Gospel, (which,
by the by, on the doctor's pi'inciples, can hardly be termed a mystery at
all,) have denominated it the " mystery of God the Father and of Christ,"
thus joining a mere man with the eternal God, and making him, together
with the self-existent Jehovah, the author of the Gospel ? Would he
have represented him as a person " in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge," and the "head of all principality and
power ?" Would he have spoken of " receiving him, walking in him,"
and being " rooted and built up, and complete in him," or as sv aulu
•3j£*X7)pwfjL£vo( rather mgnides, JiUed with or by him 7 Would he, in guard-
ing them against the vam deceits of philosophy, (those deceits which
are after the rudiments of the world, and the tradition of men, and not
after Christ,) have cautioned them against the worship of angels, and
opposed it to " holding the head." Christ ; an expression which, in this
connection, manifestly imi^Iies the worshipping him, which we have had
already sufficient, and shall yet have much more abundant proof, that
the apostles and first Christians did ? Would he have termed this mere
man, as the doctor thinks him, the life of true believers, and their all in
all, exhorting them to '' forgive one another, as he had forgiven them ?"
Would he have opposed him to men, and urged servants, whatsoever
they did, to do it heartily as to him, [a mere man !] and not to men,
" knowing that of him they should receive the reward of the inheritance,
for that they served the Lord Christ ?" These inquiries, reverend sir,
are of deep importance, and such as, on the Socinian principles, I am
well convinced Dr. Priestley will never be able to answer to the satis-
faction of those who pay any deference to the authority of St. Paul.
I am, reverend sir, yours, &:c.
LETTER V.
Rev. Sir, — Dr. Priestley would fain persuade us that St. Paul's idea
of the person of Christ was the same with that which he entertains.
But, were there no other, there is at least one insurmountable objection
to this, and that is, the difl'erent conduct of the apostle from that of the
doctor, wth regard to Divine worship. The doctor confines this entirely
to the Father. He never, in any instance, addresses it to the Son. He
judges it would be idolatry so to do. But we have already seen, in
many undeniable instances, that St. Paul worshipped Jesus Christ. To say
nothing of the many other passages which have occiu-red m the epistles
already reviewed, the benedictions wherewith he has begun and ended
these epistles, are incontrovertible proofs of it. For in these he asks
grace, or grace and peace, of Jesus Christ, as well as of the supreme
and eternal Father. We have already met with so many instances of
this kind, that I am ashamed to trouble you with any moi'e. I shall there-
fore pass over those occurring in the two next epistles, viz. the Epistles
to the Thessalonians ; and I shall also omit mentioning divers texts in
those epistles concerning Christ, which, if understood as spoken of a
mere man, appear equally absurd with those quoted in the four preced-
ing letters.
SOCINIANISM UNSCEIPTURAT . 583
But two passages I must refer to, as aflbrding a plain and evident de-
monstration, that tiie apostle viewed the Lord Jesus Christ in a different
light from that in which Dr. Priestley beholds him. The one passage is
in the first epistle, chap, iii, 11 ; and, according to the doctor's hypothesis,
must be interpreted as tbllows : — " Now God himself, even our Father and
our Lord Jes\is Christ, [a mere man !] direct our way unto you. And
the Lord [the same mere man!] make you to increase in love one toward
another and toward all men ; to the end he may establish your hearts
unblamable in hoUness before God, even our Father, at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints :" a manifest and undeniable
instance this, of a formal and solemn prayer, addressed to the Lord
Jesus, that is, as Dr. Priestley will have it, to a mere man ! and by one
who, he says, believed him to be a mere man ! Surely it behooves him
to consider how, on his principles, he can acquit the apostle of the gross
crime of idolatry ! The other passage, second epistle, chap, ii, 16, must,
on the same hypothesis, be understood in the same mamier. " Now
our Lord Jesus Christ himself, [a mere man !] and God, even our
Father, who hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and
good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and estabhsh you in every
good word and work." Here again we have a plain instance of the
apostle's praying to Christ, and that at the very time and in the very
manner in which he prays to the Father.
The doctor may pass these things over slightly. But you will agree
with me, dear sir, that reason requires him eitiier to allow that the apostle
held a different sentiment concerning the Lord Jesus, from that which
he entertains, or to give us proof that he can imitate the apostle, and
worsliip Christ as he did. While, then, he informs his people, in the
language of St. Paul in these epistles, that Jesus Christ " delivers them
from the wrath to come," first epistle, chap, i, 10, and that they " obtain
salvation through him," chap, v, 9 : that he is " that Lord that shall de-
scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the
trump of God ; who, second epistle, i, 7, shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," —
the person from whose presence and from the " glory of whose power"
such shall be " punished with everlasting destruction," when he [a mere
man] shall come to be " glorified in his saints, and admired in all them
that believe :" and whUe he prays to the Father for his flock, " that the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in them, according to
the grace of our God, and Jesus our Lord :" let him approach also the
Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, after the example of St. Paul. Though
this might a httle astonish some of his hearers, as being a procedure that
they had not been accustomed to, yet it would have more weight than
any thing he has yet said or done to convince the public that he does
not differ so widely from St. Paul, as the generality of mankind in this
kingdom suppose him to do. But if he cannot conscientiously do this,
as believing it would be gross idolatry to worship a mere man in this
manner, or speak of him in this exalted strain, then let him acknowledge
that St. Paul and he ditfer widely in tlieir views of the Lord Jesus.
Methinks, Rev. sir, on the Socinian principles, the remarkable passage
contained in the second chapter of the latter epistle to this people, which has
584 BETTERS TO THE REV. JTR. WEStEY.
generally been applied by Protestants to the^/pope of Rome, might with
much greater propriety be applied to Jesus Christ. He, you know, has
been worshipped as God for 1700 years at least, by the generahty of
Christians ; and he, as God, hath sat and still sits in the temple, or
Church of God, " showing himself that he is God ;" proclaiming him-
self the root as well as offspring of David ; the Alpha and Omega, the
first and the last ; and declaring that all men ought to " honour him, the
Son, even as they honour the Father ; and that he that honoureth not
the Son, honoureth not the Father." Now if he be no such being, but
only a mere man, and therefore no proper object of Divine worship, it
seems it would be no difficult matter, for so great a master of the art
of reasoning as Dr. Priestley, to prove that Jhe is the great impostor and
usurper, primarily meant by St. Paul in this passage, the grand idol (as
indeed he must think him) of professing Christians ; an impostor and
usurper, by so much greater than the pope, or any other that hath arisen
in the Church of God, claiming Divine honours, and exercising dominion
over men's consciences ; by how much he hath been obeyed more unre-
servedly and impUcitly, and hath been worshipped more devoutly and
universally than they.
You know, sir, it is generally supposed that all the most remarkable
apostasies from faith in and piety toward God, which have occurred or
shall occur in his Church, have been distinctly foretold in the Holy
Scriptures. Now, if Jesus Christ be a mere man, the worship of him so
generally practised, all over Christendom, for so long a run of ages,
must be the greatest corruption of true religion, and the most remarkable
defection from the service of the one living and true God, that ever took
place in the visible Church. And it would be strange, indeed, and what
many would consider as an insuperable objection to the doctor's whole
scheme, if this greatest of all apostasies should no where be foretold in
the oracles of God, when apostasies, far less criminal and general, are
constantly found to have been predicted there. But if it must be supposed
to be prophesied of somewhere, it may be worth the doctor's while to
consider, whether this passage is not as likely to foretel it as any
other.
It describes a great and general falling away from the worship and
service of the true God, a grand and universally spreading idolatry,
supported by miracles, real or pretended. This, according to his
hypothesis, must be very applicable to that apostasy from the worship
of one God only, which the doctor and his friends deplore ; which they
are using all possible means to remedy, and which he somewhere calls
the idolizring of Jesus Christ. And however it might shock the pre-
judices of some half-thinking zealots to find, that, according to this
interpretation, epithets are given to Jesus Christ, such as they have not
been accustomed to hear him characterized by, and such as they may
deem blasphemous ; yet this can no way stagger the doctor. For how
can he think any appellation too severe which is given to one, who,
though a mere man, weak, fallible, and peccable like others, for so many
centuries has been worshipped as God, and has been the grand idol of
so great a part of the known world, and has so manifestly, by word
and deed, countenanced and encouraged, nay, and commanded that
idolatry !
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 585
Now, sir, when the doctor has once proved this point, he will have
done his business effectually indeed. He will have brought Jesus Christ
as low as he could wish him. He then, instead of being the Lord of
glory, and Son of God, is discovered to be the man of sin, and son of
. But I must check myself: the whole truth must not be spoken at
once, for indeed it would not be borne. And at present there is among
us an almost universally prevailing opinion that Jesus Christ, so far from
being the person described by St. Paul in this passage, " whose coming
is after the working of Satan ; with all power and signs, and lying won-
ders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish,"
is in reality that Lord who " shall consume that wicked one with the
spirit of his mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of his coming."
If this opinion should have any foundation in truth, I fear Dr. Priestley
will be found to have entertained and taught a great error, and may be
in danger of meeting with a severe rebuke, if nothing more dreadful, in
that da)^, from him he has thus degraded.
Praying that we, reverend sir, and all professing Christians, may be
so endowed with that Spirit of truth, whose office it is to reveal the Lord
Jesus, that we may both form proper conceptions of his wonderful person,
and pay him the honour due unto his name, I break off here, and sub-
scribe myself your obedient servant in him, even in Christ Jesus, &c.
LETTER VI.
Rev. Sir, — Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, you know, were particular
and intimate friends of St. Paul. In the epistles inscribed to them, there-
fore, at least we may expect to find his sentiments concerning Jesus
Christ, the grand subject of all his letters, naked and without chsguise.
Let us then narrowly examine these epistles, and see whether they com-
port with Dr. Priestley's doctrine. In order hitherto, let us adopt the
method pursued above, and see whether those passages which speak of
Christ appear to contain good sense and sound divinity, when under-
stood according to the doctor's hypothesis. Chap, i, 1 : " Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour, [the
infinite, eternal, and supreme Jehovah,] and the Lord Jesus Christ, [a
mere man, weak, fallible, and peccable, who, mere man though he be,
is nevertheless] our hope : unto Timothy, my son in the faith ; grace,
mercy, and peace [from both these pei-sons] from God our Father, [the
Supreme Being,] and Jesus Christ our Lord," a mere man !
Verse 12 : "I thank [this mere man !J Jesus Christ our Lord, who
hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the
ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and persecutor, and injurious.
But T obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the
grace of [this mere man !] our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus, [the same mere man !] TTiis is a faith-
fid saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ [a mere man,
who was not till he was born in Bethlehem !] came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained
mercy, that in me first [this same mere man !] Jesus Christ might show
forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafler be-
586 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. AVESLEV.
lieve on him [that is, boheve on a mere man !] to everlasting hfe," for
everlasting lil'e is obtained by believing on him, though a mere man !
What a multitude of proofs, undeniable proofs, have we in these few
verses, either that St. Paul was devoid of common sense, or tliat he
viewed Jesus Christ in a very different light from that in which Dr.
Priestley considers him. To term the Lord Jesus our hope, and repre-
sent himself as made an apostle by his commandment, as well as by the
commandment of God the Father ; to look up to him as well as to the
Father for grace, mercy, and peace, to be conferred upon Timothy ; to
thank him for putting him into the ministry, and enabling him to be
faithful ; to speak of him as exercising toward him all long suffering,
and conferrmg upon him " exceeding abundant grace ;" to glory in it as
a faithful saying, and worthy of all accej)tation, that he came into the
world (an expression which plainly implies his having existed befoi'e he
so came) to save sinners ; and to represent everlasting life as being ob-
tained by believing in him ; — surely any, and much more all of these
particulars, demonstrate, that if St. Paul possessed, not to say the inspi-
ration of an apostle, but the reason of a man, he must have considered
Jesus Christ as being more than a man.
And that he did, is yet farther certain from what he says of him
toward the conclusion of the third chapter, where he terms him " God
manifest in the flesh," which is giving him a character as far above that
of a mere man, as the Creator is above one of his creatures. The
apostle goes on : " Justified in the Spirit," " whose extraordinary com-
munication (says an eminent divine) in the midst of all the meanness of
human nature in its suffering state, vindicated his high claim, and marked
him out, in the most illustrious manner, for the Divine person he pro-
fessed himself to be :" " seen of angels," who attentively beheld, adored,
and worshipped him, Heb. i, G ; " preached among the Gentiles," as the
great foundation of their faith and hope, and object of their love ; " be-
lieved on in the world," as their Redeemer and Saviour ; " received up
into glory, far above all principalities and powers, and every name that
is named." " If thou put the brethren (chap, iv, 6) in remembrance of
these things, thou shalt be a good minister of [the mere man ! j Jesus
Christ ; nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine, where-
unto thou hast attained. And (chap, v, 21) I charge thee, before God
[the omnipresent and omniscient Jehovah] and the Lord Jesus Christ,
[a mere man !] that thou observe these things !" Again, chap, vi, 13 : "I
give thee charge in the sight of God, [that infinite, omnipresent, and
omnipotent Being,] who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ,
[a mere man, local in his presence, and limited m his power,] that thou
keep the commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing
of [this mere man] our Lord Jesus Christ.
The second Fpistle to Timothy is similar to the first. The same
strain of absurdity runs through it also, on the supposition that its author
lield the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity. A few passages I shall
quote and read according to that hypothesis.
Chap, i, 1 : " Paul, an apostle of [the mere man] Jesus Christ, by
the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in [this mere
man] Christ Jesus : to 'Fimothy, my beloved son, grace, mercy, and
peace, from God the [infinite and eternal] Father, and from the Lord
SOCINIANISM UXSCRIPTUllAL. ft87
Jesus Christ, [a mere man of yesterday, weak and dependent!] Ver. 8 :
Be not thou ashamed of tlie testimony of [this mere man] our Lord, nor
of me his prisoner ; but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the Gos-
pel, according to the power of God ; who hath saved us, and called us
with a holy calhng, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, [though this Christ Jesus be a mere man, who had no existence
till the world was at least four thousand years old!] but is now made
manifest by the appearing of this [mere man] our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who [mere man as he is !] hath abolished death, and brought life and
immortahty to light through the Gospel." Observe, reverend sir, a
mere man hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to
light ! " For which cause," adds he, " I also suffer these things : never-
theless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that [though a mere man !] he is able to keep that which I
have committed unto him against that day." I think, sir, they that be-
lieve hun to be a mere man, must have many doubts respecting his ability
to keep what they may commit unto him.
The apostle proceeds, chap, ii, 1 : " Thou, therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in [this mere man !] Christ Jesus ! Endure hard-
ness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, [the same mere man.] No man
that wan-eth, entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he
may please him tliat hath chosen him to be a soldier." See that
thou then (he might have added, as indeed is imphed) make it thy care
to please the mere man Jesus Christ, who hath chosen thee ! For thy
encouragement let me remind thee that (verse 10) "I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that tliey may obtain the salvation which is m [this
mere man] Christ Jesus, with eternal gloiy. It is a faithful saying, If
we be dead with him, we shall also live with him : if we suffer with him,
we shall also reign with him : if we deny him, he will also deny us : if
we believe not, he abideth faithful, he [though a mere man !] cannot
deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance ;" that is, put
them in remembrance that a mere man cannot deny himself ! Some will
think that it is an assertion that requires proof, rather than repetition.
As in the words last quoted, the apostle ascribes immutability to this
mere man, so, verse 19, he ascribes o?nniscietice to him. "The founda-
tion of God," says he, " standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are his [according to what Jesus himself had testified, John x,
I know my sheep, and am known of mine,] and let him that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity." The same attribute is also, in effect,
ascribed to him, chap, iv, 1. But on the Socinian hypothesis it must be
interpreted as follows : " I charge thee before God, [that mfinite and
eternal Being, who filleth heaven and earth, and therefore has his
eye upon us both,] and the Lord Jesus Christ, [that mere man, who,
being now in heaven, and immensely removed from our world, is an
utter stranger to us, and perfectly unacquainted with our behaviour, but]
who will, however, judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and
his kmgdom ; preach the word. (5.) Watch in all things; for, verse 6,
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand :
I have fought the good fight ; and there is laid up for me a ci-own of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge [I mean the mere
588 lETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
man !] will give me at that day, and not to me onl)^, but to all them also
that love his appearing, [viz. the appearing of the same mere man.]
(18.) At my first answer no man stood with me, but the Lord [how
strange soever it may appear, since he is a mere man !] stood with me
and strengthened me ; and I was dehvered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord, [the same mere man !] shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom : to whom
[mere man though he be] be glory for ever and ever ! [This mere man !]
the Lord Jesus Christ, be with thy spirit !"
The Epistle to Titus being very similar to the two Epistles to Timo-
thy, I shall pass it over, referring only to one passage, which, according
to Dr. Priestley's plan of doctrine, must be understood thus : " Looking
for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of [a mere man ! who,
however, is] our great God and Saviour, ts (xsyaXs 5.-x xai (fuirripog r]^uv,
Jesus Christ, who [mere man as he is !] gave himself for us, that he, [a
mere man, by his lading down a temporal life !] might redeem us, [many
myriads as we arc,] ti-om all iniquity, and purify to himself [that is,
says Dr. Priestley, to a mere man !] a peculiar people, zealous of good
works ! These things [are of deep importance, therefore,] speak and
exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee" for
terming a mere man the great God our Saviour !
The Epistle to Philemon affords several instances of the same kind
with those quoted above. " Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, [that is, a
prisoner for liis attachment to a mere man !] grace to you, and peace
from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ ; [that is, from
the eternal God and a mere man !] I thank- my God, hearing of thy
love and faith, which thou hast toward [that mere man] the Lord Jesus :
that the communication of thy faith may become effectual," or that thy
faith may be effectually communicated to others, " by the acknowledging
[that is, by their acknowledging] of every good thing which is in you
in Christ Jesus, [that same mere man !] Wherefore, thougii I might be
bold in [this mere man] Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such a man as Paul the
aged, and now also a prisoner of [a mere man, the man] Jesus Christ.
I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, a brother beloved, especially to
me, and how much more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Yea, brother, let me have joy in thee, in [this mere man, which I term]
the Lord : refresh my bowels in him. Epaphi-as, my fellow prisoner in
[this same mere man] Christ Jesus, saluteth thee. The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, [that is, the grace of a mere man !] be with your
spirit ! Amen."
May these blessed words, so often repeated, be at length so consider-
ed by Dr. Priestley and other Socinians, that they too may see their
need of Divine grace, and begin to apply to Christ for it, though at pre-
sent they may judge it would be idolatry so to do ! Surely, reverend sir,
if the sundry passages, produced in this letter, were attended to, they
must convince all candid and unprejudiced persons that, whether St.
Paul was right or wrong in his views of the Messiah, he certainly had a
much higher idea of him, than that of a mere man.
To appeal to the Lord Jesus as omnipresent, and give Timothy re-
peated charges as in his sight, as well as in the sight of God the Father ;
soc^^^ANIS>I unscbiptural. 589
to represent him as " abolishing death, and bringing hfe and immortahty
to hght by the Gospel," and as being able to " keep what we commit
unto him safe unto that day;" to exhort Timothy to be strong " in his
grace, to endure hardness as a good soldier of his," and make it liis
chief care to please him in all things, as the captain of his salvation who
had called him ; to represent salvation in all its branches, and eternal
glory, as being in him, and to be attained only by those who " die with
him," that they " may live with him," and " sufler with him," that they
may " reign with him ;" to view him as unchangeable and omniscient, as
one that abideth faithful and "cannot deny himself," as the Lord who
"knoweth them that are his," and as the "righteous Judge" who, at
the day of his final and glorious coming, will give the crown of right-
eousness to all that love his appearing ; to speak of this Jesus as " stand-
ing by him, strengthening and delivering him" when all men forsook
him, and to express an entire conlidence in him for deliverance from
everj' evil work, and preservation to his heavenly kingdom ; and lastly,
to pray that he would '• be with Timothy " also, and to ascribe " glory
to him for ever and ever ;" — surely these particulars demonstrate that
St. Paul was as far from believing the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity,
as he was from being guilty of gross idolatry himself, or from persuad-
ing others to the commission of that dreadful crime.
I am, reverend sir, yours, dtc.
LETTER VII.
Rev. Sir, — ^Though it be not certain that St. Paul wrote the Epistle
to the Hebrews, yet, you know, it was the most prevailing opinion of the
ancients, as it is still of the moderns, that he was the author of that
invaluable work. I shall therefore take this for granted. But on the
supposition that he was a Unitarian, in Dr. Priestley's sense of the
word, he seems to have paid still less regard to common sense, to say
nothing of piety or soimd reasoning, in this, than in any of his other
epistles. We need not read far to find instances of the truth of this
observation. We meet with them in the very beginning of the epistle.
According to the Socinian doctrine, he must be interpreted to mean as
follows : —
" God, who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets, [that is, by mere men,] hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, [another mere man,] whom
[however] he hath appointed heir of all things, [viz. of all his works, of
all creatures visible and invisible !J by whom also he made the worlds,
[though this his Son had no existence till the worlds had been made at
least four thousand years !J who [mere man as he was, yet] being the
effulgence of his [the Father's] glory, and the express image [or exact
delineation] of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, [even the things that had been created and upheld some thousands
of years before he, a mere man, existed !] when he had, by himself,
[viz. by laying down his mere temporal Hfe,] purged our sins, sat down
on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Being [though a mere man,
ignorant in many things, weak and peccable] so much better than the
590 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
they. For unto which of the angels said he [the Father] at any time,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And again : I will be
to him a Father, and he shall be unto nie a Son. And again : when he
bringeth his first begotten into the world, [not that he had any prior
existence,] he saith, Let all the angels of God [be guilty of idolatry, and]
worship him [a mere man !] Of the angels he saith : Who malieth his
angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son [a
mere man !] he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre
of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved right-
eousness, and hated wickedness, therefore God, thy Hod, hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, [a
mere man ! born in the days of Augustus,] in the beginning hast laid the
foundation of the earth ; and [though weak and helpless] the heavens
are the work of thine hands : they shall perish, but thou remainest ;
yea, they shall all wax old as a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou
fold them up, and they shall be changed ; but thou [though no more
than a man !] art the same, and thy years fail not. And to which of
the angels said he at any time, [as he hath said to this mere man,] Sit
thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool f '
Such, if we believe Dr. Priestley, is the doctrine of the apostle in the
very beginning of this epistle — an epistle written manifestly with a design
either to bring over the Jews, those great advocates for the unity of God,
and the purity of Divine worsliip, to the Christian rehgion, or to preserve
those that were brought over. Even here, and to this people, averse
above all others from the very appearance of idolatry, does he hold
forth, according to the doctor, a mere creature, yea, a mere man, as the
object of religious worship even to angels ; nay, and what is, if not more
impious, yet more absurd and ridiculous, proclaims this mere creature,
this mere man, to be the Maker, Upholder, and Lord of the universe.
Surely a man must do greater violence to his imderstanding to entertain
error, than to admit the truth.
But to proceed. The apostle goes on in exactly the same strain of irra-
tional argument, as distant from common sense as from piety : " There-
fore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
iieard, lest at any time we should let them slip : for if the word spoken
by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by [a mere man !
"whom I term] the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those [other mere
men] that heard him !" Again, ver. 5 : " For unto the angels hath he
not put in subjection tlie world to come, whereof" we speak, [as he hath
to that mere man whom we call the Son !] We see Jesus, \\ho was
made a Uttle lower than the angels, [not that he ever was higher, being
only a mere man !] for the suffering of death, crowned with gloiy and
lionom*, that he, [though a mere man,] by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man ;" his single and temporal life, though lie was of
no higher nature or origin than others, being an adequate price for the
redemption of the innumerable and eternal lives of all men ! And,
ver, 14 : " Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself [a more man!] likewise took part of the same:"
SOCIMANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 591
not that It was possible he should have had it in his choice, whether he
would take part thereof or not, having had no existence till he was
tbiTned in the \vomb, and grew up in tlesh ! " That through death he
[a mere man !J might destroy him that had the power ol' death, that is,
the devil ; and deliver those who, through fear of death, were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he [a mere man !] took not on
him the nature of angels, [or did not take hold on and assume their
nature into union with himself,] but he [the same mere man] took on
him [that is, assumed into union with himself] the seed of Abraham,
[viz. that particular seed born of Mary, and descended from the Patriarch
Abraham : in other words, he, a mere man, became a mere man !]
wherefore in all things it behooved him [a mere man, begotten by
Joseph, and conceived and born of Mary] to be made like to his brethren,
that he [the same mere man] might be a merciful and faithful High
Priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people. For in that he himself suffered, being tempted, he is able
[though a mere man, and of consequence immensely removed from his
followers, and entirely unacquainted with them] to succour them that
are tempted !"
Now, what strange unintelligible jargon is this ! How unworthy, I
will not say of the tongue, or of the pen of an apostle Divinely inspired,
but of a human creature endowed with common sense ! How absurd,
as well as false, was it to represent it as a much greater crime, and
therefore as a behaviour that would meet with much more exemplary
punishment to neglect the salvation revealed by a mere man, than to
disobey the word spoken by glorious angels ! — to speak of this mere
man as made a little lower than the angels, (an expression which plainly
implies that he was once higher,) in order that, by the grace of God, he
might taste death to redeem every man ! — as pailaking of flesh and
blood, because we were partakers thereof, a manner of sjieaking from
which it is natural to infer that he had it in his choice w hether he would
partake of them or not, and that he acted voluntarily in so doing, and
therefore that he pre-existed : to magnify it as an astonishing instance
of his love, that he passed by the nature of angels, and laid hold on
sinkuig men, assuming the human natme into union with himself, and
condescending to be made in all things like unto his brethren ; and to
hold him iorth to our view as being therefore able, not only to destroy
the power of Satan, and to deliver mcmkind from his works, especially
death and the fear of it, but also to sustain the ofHce of a merciful and
faithful High Priest, in things pertaining to God, making reconciliation
for the sins of the people, and succouring them that are tempted ; au
expression this which certainly implies his beuig perfectly acquainted
with them, and ever at hand to Jielp them, wherever they may be dis-
persed abroad over the face of the earth ; which it is certainly incon-
ceivable that any mere man should be ! JMethinks (1 say) that, as these
things, if understood of a mere man, must be false, so to suppose them
is very ridiculous, and suflicient to discredit any pretences, not only to a
bupernatural ajjlalus, but even to ordinaiy reason and understantUng.
Cliapter iii, 3, we meet with a passage still more extraordinary, if
considered in a similar point of" view. " This person (says the apostle)
was counted worthy of more glory tlian Moses, inasmuch as he that
592 LETTERS TO THE KEV. MR. WESLEV.
buildeth the house hath more honour than the house : for every house is
builded by some one ; but he [this mere man !] that built all things, is
(.iod : and Moses verily [one mere man] was laithi'ul as a servant, — but
Christ [another mere man !] as a Son over his own house, whose house
[or family] we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of
hope firm unto the end. For we are made partakers of [this mere
man] Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast
unto the end."
Respecting this remarkable passage, I shall only say, that as certainly
as the author of it compares Christ to Moses, and asserts his great
superiority to the Jewish lawgiver, so certainly does he signify that that
superiority consisted in two things : Moses was but a servant in the family
of God, Christ a Son : Moses was the house itself, or rather only a part
of it, but Christ was the builder of the house, yea, is the builder of all
things — is God ! Now, is it possible, on the principles of common sense,
to reconcile this doctrine of the apostle with the supposition of his view-
ing Christ, whom he thus magnifies, as a mere man / Surely, if Christ
be a mere man, he was and is God's servant, and a part of God's house
as much as Moses.
Pass we on to the fourteenth verse of the fourth chapter, where we meet
with another paragraph, which, on the principles of common sense, is al-
most equally irreconcilable with the same doctrine of Christ's mere human-
ity. The Socinian hypothesis requires us to understand it thus : " Having
therefore a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, [that is, a mere man !] let us hold fast our profession, for
we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities, [although it must be granted, that, being a mere man, he
cannot be acquumted with them !] Let us therefore come boldly unto
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in
time of need !"
Still more ridiculous, according to the same doctrine, is the apostle's
language in the seventh chapter, where he discourses largely on one of
the capital doctrines of Christianity, and holds forth the Lord Jesus as a
•*' High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." Comparing
them together, he observes, verse first, " This Melchisedec, king of
Salem, priest of the most high God ; first, being, by inteii^retation, king
of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of
peace ; without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
begimiing of days nor end of life, but made hke the Son of God," who,
as Dr. Priestley teaches, is a mere man, and had both a father and a
mother, and, at least, beginning of days, if not also end of life. " For
he teslifieth. Thou [a mere man !] art a priest for ever after the order
of Melchisedec. Therefore, this [mere man] because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood : wherefore [though a mere
man !] he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a
High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners, and [though a mere man !] higher than the heavens, who
needeth not daily, as those high priests, to olfer up sacrifice, first for his
own sins, and then for the people's : for this he did once when he offered
up himself: for the law maketh men liigh priests, who have infirmity;
SOCIMANISJI f NSCKIPTUKAL. 693
but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son,"
viz. a mere man ; who, according to Dr. Priestley, had infirmity also,
and was weak and peccable like others ; but nevertheless, it seems,
" who is consecrated for evermore !"
Now here I would ask, on the supposition that the author of thia
epistle beUeved Jesus Christ, the great High Priest of our profession, to
be a mere man, the proper son of Joseph and Mary, begotten, conceived,
and born Uke other men ; how came he to avail himself of the silence
of the Old Testament, respecting the genealogy of Melcliisedec, in the
comparison wliich he draws between him and Christ ? How came he to
take notice of his being without any father ; recorded in the Scripture,
" without mother, without descent, and his having neither beginning of
days, nor end of life," mentioned in the Divine oracles, as circumstances
which rendered him a more complete type of the Son of God ? Cer-
tainly, if the Son of God be a mere man, and the apostle had considered
him as such, he must have seen that Melchisedec would have resembled
him much more, had all these particulars been otherwise ; I mean, if he
had had a father and a mother spoken of in the Jewish Scriptures ; and
if the begimiing of his days had also been recorded there. For it must
be allowed, that a man tliat has human parents, and whose days have
had a beginning, is, in these respects, a fitter type of a mere man con-
ceived and born as all others are, than one who never had any pro-
genitors, and whose days never began to be. And as it is probable that
Melchisedec was a real man, and therefore that he had both a father and
a mother, though that circumstance be not mentioned in the short ac
count Moses has gi^en us of him, certainly the apostle would have taken
no notice of these particulars, much less would he have enlarged upon
them, as he has done, had he viewed Jesus Christ in the light in which
Dr. Priestley views him : as it is not to be conceived that any end could
be answered by it, unless to mislead people, and make them believe that
the Son of God, of whom this Melchisedec was an illustrious type, was
not of this world, nor of any human origin.
I need make no remark upon divers other expressions in the passages
quoted above : they speak for themselves, and make it evident that if the
apostle believed Jesus Christ to be a mere man, he strangely forgot his
creed, when he wrote these verses, and uttered things, to say the ver}
least, very inconsistent with it. For let common sense judge. How
can a mere man, whose presence is, and must be merely local, and who
is immensely removed from our world, and confined in the third heaven ;
how can he, I say, be acquainted even with the persons, and much more
Avith the infirmities of all his followers, nay, and of all mankind in every
part of the habitable globe ? And how can he be present with, and
assisting every one that shall apply to him at whatever time or place ;
giving grace to help in time of need ; directing, protecting, strengthen-
ing, and comforting all in general, and each individual in particular, as
their wants and necessities require ? I pass by many particulars, also, in
the eighth chapter, in which the apostle's reasoning is verj"^ weak on the
Socinian hypothesis. Indeed, there is hardly any solid argument in the
whole epistle, (though generally considered as the most clear, argu-
mentative, and convincing of all St. Paul's Epistles,) on the supposition
that Jesus Christ, the grand subject of it, is no more than a man, weak.
Vol. III. 38
594 LETTERS TO THE REV. ME. WESLEY.
and peccable like others. On this principle, what shall we make of his
doctrine respccling (he priesthood of Christ, as displayed at large in the
ninth and tenth chapters? Here, methinks, he especially answers the
character Dr. Priestley gives him, and stands forth as an inconclusive
reasoner. If the doctor be right, he reasons as iollows : —
Chap, ix, 11 : "Christ being come a High Priest of good things to
come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with liands,
that is to say, not of this building ; neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood, [viz. the blood of a mere man !] he entered
in once into the holy place, having [by that mean] obtained eternal re-
demption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a
heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, [the blood of one mere man!]
who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge
your consciences from dead works to serve the living God !"
Chap. X, 4 : " It is not possible that the blood of V)iills and goats
should take away sin. Whcretbre when he [a mere man ! who had no
prior existence] cometh into the world, he saith. Sacrifice and ofiering
thou wouldst not ; but a body hast thou prepared me. Then said I,
[before I existed !] Lo ! I come to [enter that body and] do thy will, O
God ! By the which will we are sanctified, by the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ, [the body of one more man,] once for all :" body, I say,
but I do not mean by this that he hath any soul, any more than a superior
or Divine nature. No, like other mere men, he was all body, wholly
made of matter without spirit ! " But he, [or awog, this person,] after he
had olTered one sacrifice for sin, for ever sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies [whether evil men, or
evil angels,] be made his footstool, [viz, the footstool of a mere man !]
For by one offering he [a mere man] hath perfected for ever them that
are sanctified !" Verse 19 : " Having, therefore, brethren, boldness [or
liberty] to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, [the blood of a
mere man !] by a new and living way which he [a mere man] hath
consecrated for us : and having [the same mere man] a High Priest
over the house of God ; let us draw near with a true heart in full assur-
ance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. For
if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin [but that which we reject.] He
that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or tliree wit-
nesses : of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden imder foot [one mere man, whom I term] the
{^on of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewitli he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace!"
1 thinli no one will wonder that they who reject the whole doctrine of
the divinity and atonement of Christ, together with the influence of the
Holy Spirit of God, should consider the author of this epistle as writing
without inspiration, and as reasoning very inconclusively. But what
win they say to that passage in the eleventh chapter, where the apostle
informs us that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ (that is, tlie re-
proach of a mere man, who had no existence till about two thousand
years after that time, that he esteemed this reproach, I say) greater
riches tlian the treasures of Egypt ?
SOClIsIAMtiJI UXSCRirXURAL. 595
Chap, xii ; The apostle exhorts us to " look to this [mere man] Jesus,"
and terms him [though a mere man] " tlie author and finisher of our
faith ;" and tells us, " he is set down on the right hand of the throne of
God :" and, verse 25, bids us see that we refuse him not, for, adds he,
"if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, [the mere
man, Moses,] much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from
him, who [though he] speaketh from heaven, [is however but another
mere man !] whose voice then [viz. two thousand years before he had
any being !] shook the earth : but now he hath promised, saying, Yet
once more I shake not only the earth, but heaven also !" This mere
man, chap, xiii, 8, " Jesus Christ, is the same yesterda}', to-day, and for
ever;" for, though a mere man, he is immutable! and, verse 12, "that
he might sanctify the jwople with his own blood, he suffered without the
gate : let us go forth, therefore, luito him, without the camp, bearing his
reproach, and by him [mere man as he is !] let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually : that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
his name. Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, [who, though but a mere man, is however] the great
Shepherd of the sheep, [omniscient to know, and omnipresent to oversee
and protect them all !] through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will ; working in you that
which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, [the same mere
man,] to whom [mei'e man as he is] be glory for ever and ever! Amen!"
I hope, reverend sir, if Dr. Priestley deem this to be good sense, and
sound doctrine, he will have no objection to join with the apostle in this
doxology, and add his hearty amen to St. Paul's, ascribing glory to this
mere man for ever and ever ! I am, reverend sir, yours, &c.
LETTER VIII.
Rev. Sir, — However difficult a task Dr. Priestley may find it to recon-
cile the epistles of St. Paul with common sense, on the supposition of that
apostle's holding the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, I am persuaded
he will find it equally difficult to reconcile therewith the epistles of the
other apostles, supposing them also to have been of the same opinion.
In proof of tliis, 1 shall lay before you a few passages, extracted from
their writings also, referrmg you to the original epistles for farther satis,
faction. St. James, it is true, speaks but little of Christ ; but neverthe-
less, what he does speak shows, either that he was not a Unitarian in the
doctor's sense of the word, or that he had liltle regard to common sense
in writing his epistle. He not only styles himself a servant of God, but
also of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, as the doctor will have it, of a mere
man ! And the next time he mentions his name, which is in the begin-
ning of the second chapter, he assures us he is the " Lord of glory ;"
that is, on the doctor's hypothesis, a mere man is the Lord of glory !
" Be patient, brethren, (says he, chap, v, 7,) unto the coming of the
Lord ; [that is, the coming of a mere man !] stablish your hearts : the
coming of the Lord [the same mere man] draweth nigh. And gnidge
not one against another, lest ye be condemned : bcholdj the Judge [a
mere num] standeth at the door "
596 LETTEKS TO THE REV. 3IK. WESLEV.
St. Peter furnishes us with many more examples than St. James,
either of the erroneousness of the Socinian doctrine, or of his own ab-
surdity. " Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, [that is, says Dr. Priestley,
an apostle of a mere man !] to the strangers, — elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, tlii'ough sanctification of the Spirit,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus," that is, the blood
of a mere man ! Here St. Peter speaks hke a Trinitarian. He both
names the three that bear record in heaven, and attributes unto each his
proper office and work in the economy of our redemption. He ascribes
our election to God the Father, who, in his Divine foreknowledge, marks
from the beginning who will accept of salvation in the only way in which
it can be accepted, the way of repentance and faith, and elects or chooses
such for his children. He imputes our redemption to the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, whose body, offered up upon the cross as a sacrifice for
sin, makes atonement, and the sprinkling of whose blood gives at once
peace with God, and peace of conscience to the truly penitent and be-
lieving soul. And he attributes our sanctification to the Holy Spirit,
whose heavenly influence upon the mind both breaks the power, and
purges away the defilement of sin, at the same time that he inspires us
with love, joy, and peace, with holiness and happiness, and gives us to
know that his genuine fruit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
The second of these persons, against whom Dr. Priestley seems to
have a peculiar enmity, and who, he thinks, is far too much exalted,
when " advanced to the high rank of the first and principal emanation
of the Deity, the vovs or Xoyog of the Platonists, and the ^rj/jwoup^o?, under
God, in making the world," — as being, he believes, a mere man : this
person, I say, even Jesus, the Son of God, is represented by St. Peter,
a few verses after, as the great object of the faith and love of the saints,
and the source of unspeakable joy to them. "Whom having not seen,
ye love, (ver. 8,) in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, the salvation of your souls." And is He a mere man whom
they thus love, though they have not seen him, and in whom they " re-
joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory ?" Is He a mere man whose
Spirit, as the apostle observes in the following verses, " was in the
ancient prophets," and spoke by them, and who hath " redeemed us, not
with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with his own precious
blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, "but was manifest in
these last times for us ?" Surely, if he be, St. Peter must have mistaken
his character, and have viewed him in a very different light.
This appears still more manifest from the next chapter : " As new-
born babes," says he, " desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby ; if so be that ye have tasted that tlte Lord [a mere man,
shall I say?] is gracious." That he means Christ, is plain from the
following words : — " To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious; ye also, as lively stones,
are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ," that is, says Dr. Priestley,
by a mere man ! " Wherefore, also, it is contained in the Scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious, and he that
SOCIMAXISM UXSCRIPTURAL. 597
believeth on him [that beUeveth on a mere man !] shall not be con-
founded. Unto you, therefore, that believe, he [this mere man] is pre-
cious ; but unto them that be disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same [mere man] is made the head of the comer, and a
stone of stumbhng, and a rock of offence, to them who, disobeyuig the
word, stumble." I ask again, Can it be supposed that St. Peter con-
sidered the person of whom he spake in these words, as being a mere
man 1 The person whom he thus represents as the one foundation of
the Church, and of every member thereof? To whom he applies the
words of Isaiah, in the eighth chapter of his prophecy, manifestly meant
of Jehovah ? The Lord, whom true believers " taste to be gracious,"
to whom they come, as to a living stone, upon whom they are built up,
and trusting in whom they shall never be confounded ? I ask, farther :
Is He a 7nere man who, as we learn ver. 24, &c, " his own self bore our
sins in his own body, on the tree, heals us by liis stripes," and under-
takes to be the " Shepherd and Bishop of all our souls," many thousands
and myriads as we are, dispersed over the whole world ? Methinks he
who will atRi'm this, may as well affirm St. Peter to be an idiot, or beside
himself.
But there is no end of the absurdity of supposing the New Testament
writers to hold the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity. We have only
to read a few verses farther, and we are informed of this mere man
preaching in the days of Noah, by his Spirit, to those who, indeed, are
now in prison, but were foi'merly disobedient, when once the long suf-
fering of God waited for the repentance of the old world. And, a verse
or two after, are assured that he " is gone into heaven, and is on the
right hand of God, angels, and authorities, and powers, being made sub-
ject unto him," that is, subject to a mere man ! and, chap, v, 11, find the
apostle ascribing to liim " praise and dominion for ever and ever," con-
firming his doxology by a solemn and hearty Amen !
The second Epistle of St. Peter is exactly of a piece with the first.
It also contains divers passages utterly irreconcilable with common
sense, on the supposition that the author of it beheved the Lord Jesus
Christ to be a mere man. The following, which I shall barely quote
and interpret, according to the Socinian hypothesis, leaving it to the
reader to make his observations upon them, seem very remarkable : —
" Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ," that is, of a
mere man ; " to them that have obtained like precious faith with us,
through the righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ ;" that
is, of the uifinite Jehovah, and a mere man ! or rather, according to the
Greek, through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Clirist,
who, however, is a mere man ! " Grace and peace be multiplied unto
you, through the knowledge of God, [self existent, independent, supreme,
and eternal,] and of Jesus our Lord," a weak, peccable, and mortal
man
For, ver. 16, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and coming of [this mere man] our
Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye witnesses of his majesty," (jasyaXsio^riloj,)
the majesty of a mere man ! For he received from God the Father
honour and glory, when there came such a voice from the excellent
glory, " This [mere man !] is my beloved Son, in whom [though he be
598 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
weak and peccable] I am well pleased. And this voice, whicli came
iVom heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount."
Let the reader observe the following prediction. How applicable to
the doctrine we oppose ! Chap, ii : " But there were false prophets
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
iaouglit them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And
many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of." Would not one suppose that the apostle
was describing the present times here ? For, ver. 20 : " If after they
have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, [that is, the knowledge of a mere man !]
they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse
with them than the beginning."
Chapter iii : "Tliis second epistle, beloved, I write unto you, that ye
may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets, and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and
Saviour, [that is, the apostles of a mere man !] knowijig that there
.shall come, in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lusts,
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming ?" that is, the coming
of a mere man. " But the Lord [viz. the same mere man !] is not
slack concerning his promise, [to fulfil it,] but is long suflering to us
ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. But the day of the Lord [that is, the day of a mere man !]
will come, as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away
with a great noise. Nevertheless we, according to promise, [the promise
of the same mere man !] look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for
such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him [that is, found of a
mere man !] in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that
the long sutfering of our Lord [viz. the long suffering of a mere
man !] is salvation. And grow in grace, and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, [that is, in the knowledge of a
mere man !] To him, [that is, to a mere man !] be gloiy, both now and
for ever !"
Methinks, reverend sir, were there no other arguments to prove that
the Lord Jesus Christ is more than a mere man, these doxologies are
sufficient to evince it. For if it bo not idolatry to ascribe glory to a
mere man or mere creature, I confess I know not what is. Leaving
you to adore with me the wisdom and goodness of God, in furnishing us
with so many and such incontestable proofs of the falsity of a doctrine,
which, of all others, is the most inimical to our peace and our best inte-
rests, in time and in eternity, I remain, reverend sir, yours, &c.
LETTER IX.
Rev. Sin, — We come now to the Epistles of St. John. 1 think Dr.
Priestley has not pronoiuiced him to be an " inconclusive reasoner."
But if, as he siipposes, that aposlle considered our Lord as a mere man,
he is certainly as much entitled to that character as St. Paul himself.
socixiAxrsM uxscuiPTURAL. 59D
He begins his first epistle, by tenning tlio Lord Jesus the " word of
hfe," tlie "hfe," and the "eternal hte," appellations which certainly but
ill agree with the character of a jnere man. He informs us that he was
" Avith the Father from the beginning," though it was only in these lat-
ter ages that he was " manifested " in the flesh to us, and assures us,
notwithstanding he was now returned to the Father from whom he came,
and was no longer visible among his disciples as formerly, yet that they
had still fellowship with him as well as with the infinite and eternal Fa-
ther. " That which was from the beginning," says he, " which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled, of the word of life : for the lite was manifested, and we have
seen it and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was
with the Father, and was manifested to us : that which we have seen
and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us ; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ." Now, is it of a mere man that all this is spoken ? Is a mere
man the word of life, the life, the eternal life ? Was a mere man with
the Father before his manifestation in the flesh ? Yea, from the begin-
ning? Can a mere man, while with God, in the third heaven, be
nevertheless present with men on eai-th, so that his true followers may
have union and communion with him ? And can the blood of a mere
man, as he affirms, verse 7, " cleanse from all sin ?" Or can a mere
man be a " propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world ?" Chap, ii, 2. Surely, to suppose these thuigs
is most ridiculous.
In the following verses he repeatedly calls the commandments of God
his [Christ's] commandments, and the word of God his word ; and,
verse 12, assures the children of God, that their sins are forgiven for
" his name's sake ;" that is, as Dr. Priestley will have it, for the name's
sake of a mere man ! And, verse 22, associating him with the eternal
Fatlier, he testifies that " he is antichrist, that denieth the Father and
the Son : [that is, according to the doctor's hypothesis, that denieth the
eternal God and a mere man !] Whosoever," proceeds he, " denieth the
Son, [denieth a mere man !] the same hath not the Father. If that
wliich ye have heard from the beginning remain in you, ye also shall
continue in the Son and the Father, [that is, in a mere man, and in the
eternal God !] These things have I written unto you, concerning them
that seduce you. And now, little children, abide in him, [the same mere
man !] that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be
ashamed before him [a mere man !] at his coming. If you know that
he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is
born of him ;" viz. of a mere man !
It appears from the last words, that, according to St. John, on the So-
cinian principles, a mere man is the author of our regeneration ! We
are born of the spirit of a mere man ! An extraordinary doctrine indeed !
And yet not more extraordinary than the doctrine taught us by the same
apostle, in the following chapter, concerning Christ's being " manifested
to take away our sins," and to " destroy the works of the devil ;" a doc-
trine which never can be reconciled with the notion of Christ's mere
humanity, on the principles of common sense. For as the expression, " He
w ag manifested," plainly implies that he existed before such raanifesta-
600 LETTEHS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
tion, so the declaration of tlie end for which he was manifested bespeaks
him more, I will not say, than a mere man, but more than a mere crea-
ture. For how can a mere man, or mere creature, take away our sins,
or destroy the devil's works ?
But let us pass on to the famous passage, in which this apostle pro-
fessedly characterizes the " spirit of truth," and the spirit of error, and
let us see how it reads, if understood according to the Socinian doctrine.
Chapter iv, 1 : " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
whether they be of God ; because many false prophets are gone out
into the world : hereby know we the Spirit of God. Every spirit that
confesseth that Jesus Christ [tlie same mere man !] is come in the flesh,
is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ [that
is, that a mere man !] is come in the flesh, is not of God. And this is
that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and
even now already it is in the world." Now, what a strange and uncouth
phraseology is this, which, on the doctor's principles, the apostle uses !
Whoever, speaking of the birth of a mere man, said he came in the flesh ?
Certainly, such a tbrm of expression is unexampled in any author, an-
cient or modern, sacred or profane. The reason is plain : a mere man
must come in the flesh, if he come at all : he cannot come, or be born
into the world otherwise. It is therefore unnecessary, and indeed ridicu-
lous to mention that circumstance. It is just as if one were to say, " A
man came clothed with skin, or with a head upon his body."
But to use sucli a phraseology concerning a being that might come
otherwise, concerning an angel, for instance, or a departed spirit, would
be at least good sense. To say that Gabriel came in the flesh, or that
Elijah, or Moses rose again, and came in the flesh, however the asser-
tion might offend our faith by its falsehood, it would not shock our com-
mon sense by its absurdity : it would be only like saying, A man came
clothed in scarlet, which was a circumstance that might properly be
mentioned, as he might have come clothed in raiment of another colour.
Just so the apostle's relating and solemnly testifying that Christ came
in the flesh, as it was a fact true in itself, so it was very necessary it
should be mentioned, it being very possible, nay, and likely, that he
should come otherwise, even without flesh, in the Spirit, in his spiritual
and Divine nature, as indeed he had come from the beginning ; whether
to the patriarchs, in the early ages of the world, or to his Church in the
wilderness, and to his prophets in after times.
But, says the doctoi-, {History of Corruptiom, p. 142,) " This doctrine
has staggered many, when tliey reflect coolly upon the subject, to think
that so exalted a Being as this, an unique in the creation, [an only one,]
a Being, next in dignity and intelligence to God himself, [he should
rather say, one with God,] possessed of powers absolutely incompre-
hensible by us, should inhabit this particular spot of the universe, in pre-
ference to any other in the whole extent of, perhaps, boundless crea-
tion." It is worthy of observation, here, that the very doctrine which
staggers the doctor and his friends, and seems so perfectly incredible to
them, is the grand subject of all St. John's writings, and furnishes him
(as it does the other apostles) with matter for the highest admiration and
praise ! " In this, says he, chap, iv, 9, was manifested the love of God
toward us, because that God sent his only begotten [' an unique in the
P0CINIAM3JI UXSCRIPTURAl. 601
creation,' an only one, as Dr. Priestley terms him] into the world, that
we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins !
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. We
have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour
of the world !"
Though, as the doctor expresses it, (ibid.) " he existed before all crea-
tures, yea, from eternity, by an eternal derivation from his eternal
Father," though " he was the immediate Maker of the world, and of
all things visible and invisible, and appeared in 6, Divine character to the
patriarchs and prophets ;" yet, that he was born of the Virgin Maiy, and
made man, is a doctrine which is now and has been in every age, since
Christianity was first established in the world, the grand foundation, as
well as object of the faith of the people of God, the source of their
love, and matter of their wonder and praise. That the Logos, the
Wisdom, and Word, " which was in the beginning with God and was
God ; that Wisdom and Word, by which all things were made, hath
been made flesh, and hath dwelt among us," while men beheld his glory,
the glory of the " only begotten of the Father," full of grace and truth :
that when he was rich, for our sakes he became poor, that we, tlirough
his poverty, might be made rich : that when in the form of God, and,"
as the apostle declai'es, " equal with God," as being his very Word and
Wisdom, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made
in the likeness of men : that, when he was " found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself still farther, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross :" this great mystery of godliness, while it hath
filled them with wonder and amazement, at the condescension and love
of this Divine and adorable Saviour, hath convinced them that, mean
and worthless as they are, when compared with creatures of a more
exalted rank, they are, however, not overlooked by their Maker, amidst
the immensity of his nobler works : on the contrary, they see that they
stand high in his esteem, and are the objects of Ws peculiar love and
tender compassions.
What God may, or may not have done, for other creatures, in other
worlds, they know not, and therefore pretend not to say ; but they do not
think their ignorance in this point can justify their disbelieving a fact
sufficiently authenticated, and in consequence thereof, their ungratefully
rejecting what, they have good proof, God, in infhiite goodness, hath done
for themselves, though they may not be able to assign a reason for his
preferring of them to others, should there be a preference in the case.
They consider that other beings, existing in other worlds, either may not
have fallen as they had done, and, therefore, may not have needed to be
visited in a similar manner by a Divine Redeemer ; or, if they have,
that some circumstances in their case might render their defection more
inexcusable, and that therefore the Divine wisdom might not see fit to
afford them the help he hath afforded man, formed out of the dust of the
earth, weak and frail, even in his best estate, and seduced by the subtlety
and fraud of his more powerful and crafty adversary.
Be this as it will, their firm belief of a mystery they cannot fathom,
that " God has been manifest in the flesh ;" that "to them a child has
been bom, to them a son has been given, whose name is Wonderful,
G02 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR, WESLET.
Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
Emmanuel, Clod with us ;" their conviction of this, I say, while it lays a
foundation tor flic most absolute confidence in, and entire dependence
upon their God and Saviour for whatever they want for time and eter-
nity, binds their hearts to liim, as by a thousand ties, and becomes a
most powerful and perpetual obligation to love and obedience, 'lliis
" love of Christ constraineth them, while they thus judge, that if one
died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they who
live, [viz. who live through his death,] should not henceforth live unto
thetnselves, but to him that died for them and rose again." In the mean-
time, that the " Father sent the Son, his hving Word and Wisdom, to be
the Saviour of the world ;" that " he so loved the world, as to give his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life," is matter of equal praise, and equally excites
their admiration, and provokes their gratitude. And while with St. Paul
they render thanks unto God for his unspeakable gift, they see every
reason to conclude, \\ith the same inspired apostle, that " he who hath
not withheld his own Son, but hath freely delivered him up unto death for
us all, will, with him also, freely give us aU things !" Thus the doctrine
of tJie incarnation of the Divine Word, though a subject of cavil to the
reasoning pride of vain and all-assuming philosoph}-, is a firm ground of
confidence, and perpetual source of consolation to the humble and de\ out
follower of Josus, the little child, to whom it hath pleased our heavenly
Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, to reveal those things, which he
hath hid from the wise and prudent !
But, says the doctor, (ibid.) " It cannot but be thought a little extra-
ordinary, that there should be no trace of the apostles ha\'ing ever
regarded their Master in this high light. For, being Jews, they would
certainly consider him, at first, as a man, like themselves, since no Jew
ever expected any other for their Messiah. Indeed, it can never be
thought that Peter and others would have made so free with our Lord,
as they sometimes did, if they had considered him as their Maker." In
answer to this, I would observe, what sort of a Messiah the Jews ex-
pected may be gathered, not only from tbe Scriptures of the prophets,
which gave birth to that expectation, but from the ancient Chaldee, or
Jewish paraphrase on those Scriptures, which expresses their faith, at
the very time when the Messiah was expected. Not to refer to any other
passage, their comment on Isaiah ix, 6, is sufficient to put this matter
beyond disjiute, and is as follows : — " The propliet saith to the house of
David, that a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and he bath taken
the law upon himself, that he might keep it ; and his name shall be
called God, before the face (or from the face) of the admirable counsel ;
tbe man that abideth for ever; the Messiah, whose peace shall be mul-
tiplied upon us in his days."
As to the apostles, whether there be " any trace of their having ever
regarded their Master in this high light," the present quotations from
their writings show. And as to St. Peter, in particular, once a Jew, and
no doubt well acquainted with the notions of his countrymen, respecting
the person and ofHce of the Messiah, he hath spok(;n for himself already.
In wliat light he might view his Master, when he first became his dis-
ciple, I will not say: but that he considered him as more liian a man,
S CIXIAXISM UNSCKirXL-RAL. 603
when lie wrote his epistles, is evident from the many passages we have
quoted from them, which, if understood of a mere man, appear to be
absolute nonsense.
The same must be said of the epistles of the other apostles. Many
passages in them all, as these letters demonstrate, are truly nonsensical,
if interpreted of a mere man ; and these, not a i'ew detached and uncon-
nected sentences, but whole paragraphs and sections, yea, entire chap-
ters, tlie principal doctrine of which is most irrational, as well as the
argumentation perfectly inconclusive, on the Socinian hypothesis. For
instance, what makes a greater figure in the writings of St. .lohn, or is
more frequently mentioned or expatiated upon, than the doctrine of the
great love of God, manifested in his sending " his Son into the world
that we might live through him?" But, if what he advances upon this
subject be understood of a mere man, how unworthy is it, I will not say
of the inspiration of an apostle, but of the reason and common sense
of a man ! We need not go far to seek examples of this. I appeal to
the passage last quoted. Only suppose it to be spoken of a mere
man, and how insipid and unmeaning ! nay, how absurd and ridiculous
does it appear ! " In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because that God sent [a mere man whom I term] his oidy begotten Son
into the world, [not that we are to suppose he had any existence prior
to his being sent,] that we might live through him : [that is, through
his teaching and example !] Herein is love ! not that we loved God, but
that he loved us and sent [a mere man called] his Son, to be the pro-
pitiation for our sins," that is, (says the doctor,) to die a martyr to con.
firm his doctrine ! Beloved, if God so loved us, [and sent a mere man
among us to teach us his will !] we ought also to love one another.
We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son, [I mean that
the eternal God sent a mere man !] to be the Saviour of the world."
One mere man to save the whole human race !
The doctrine of the next chapter is yet more irrational, if more can
be. Thus, verse .5 : " Who is he that overcomcth the world, but he that
believeth that Jesus [a mere man !] is [by adoption] the Son of God ?
This is he [the mere man] that came by water and blood, even Jesus ;
not by water only [in which he was baptized, an emblem of his own
purity, and our regeneration,] but by water and blood : [atoning blood,
the blood of one mere man, shed for the sins of millions!] and it is the
Spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is truth. For there are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, (he Word, and the Holy
Ghost; [that is, on the Socinian principles, the Self-existant Jehovah, a
mere man, and the power of God !] and these three are one ! [the eter-
nal God, his power, and a mere man are one !] This is the record, that
God hath given to us eternal life, and this lite is in his Sou, [is in a
mere man !] He that hath the Son, [that hatii this mere man dwelling
in him ! see 2 Cor. xiii. 5,] hath life, and he that hath not the Son of
God, [that hath not this mere man, dweUing in him !] hath not life." Vcr.
20 : *' We know that the Son of God is come, [that is, that a mere man
hath been raised up to instruct us,] and [though a mere man !] hath given
us an understanding to know him that is true ; and we are in him that
is true, in or by his Son Jesus Christ, [a mere man.] He [the mere
man I speak of] is the true God and eternal life. [But though I give
604 LETTERS TO THE KEV. MR. WESLEY.
these high titles to a mere man, yet, let me add,] little children, keep
yourselves fi-om idols !" A necessary caution indeed ! but very absurd
in this connection.
The second epistle he inscribes to the elect lady, (or, as some rather
think it should be rendered, to the elect Kiiria, making Kuria a proper
name,) and, like St. Paul, he prays for grace, mercy, and peace, from
God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, on the Unitarian
hypothesis, from the supreme God, and a mere man ! " Many deceivers,
(says he, ver. 7,) are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh :" I speak of that mere man, born in Bethle-
hem, who, having had no pre-existence, must come in the flesh, or not
at all. " This is a deceiver and antichrist. Whosoever transgresseth,
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, [the doctrine of a mere man !]
hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both
the Father and the Son, [both the eternal God, and a mere man !] If
there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God
speed is a partaker of his evil deeds !" How far this caution concerns the
abettors of the doctrine of Christ's mere humanity, the reader must judge.
The short Epistle of Jude is of a piece with the epistles of the other
apostles. It is also written without common sense, as certainly without
inspiration, on the supposition that he believed Jesus Christ to be a mere
man. " Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, [that is, the servant of a mere
man,] to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in
[the same mere man] Jesus Christ, and called. Beloved, when I gave
all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you, and exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in un-
awares, denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ : [that is,
denying the infiixite Jehovah, and a mere man !] Verse 14 : Enoch,
also, the seventii from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the
Lord [that is, a mere man !] cometh with ten thousand of his saints to
execute judgment upon all. But beloved, remember ye the words wliich
were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, [viz. the
apostles of a mere man !] 3'e beloved, building up yourselves on your
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love
of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the mercy of
a mere man !] unto eternal hfe." Praying, reverend sir, that this mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which St. Jude mentions, may be extended to
Dr. Priestley also, although he takes such pains to persuade himself and
others that it is but the mercy of a mere man ; and that whatever
strange and unscriptural speculations he may amuse himself and others
withal, he may not live and die without the experimental and practical
acquaintance with the trinity, spoken of in these words • I remain, reve-
rend sir, yours, &c.
LETTER X.
Rev. Sir, — ^In the foregoing letters I have reviewed all the epistles
of the New Testament, and have selected most of the texts in which the
Lord Jcfeius is spoken of; and, methinks, every reasonable man must
»ocixla:<is>i unscriptural. 605
allow they are all absurd, and tlie greatest part of them even profane,
on supposition that he is a mere man. The same observation may be
extended to the other books of the New Testament. They also contain
sundiy passages which, to say the least, are very ridiculous ; and mani-
fest, either that the authors of them were not Unitarians, in the Socinian
sense of the word, or that they were wanting in common sense. In many
of these passages, our Lord Jesus Christ liimself speaks, either while on
earth, or after his ascension into heaven. So that, if Dr. Priestley's
doctrine be true, it appears that the Lord Jesus Christ himself (I speak
it with reverence) was as much wanting in common sense, as any of
his apostles ; and his doctrine, like theirs, is absurd and impious. Per-
mit me, reverend sir, before I conclude, to give you, in one or two letters
more, a few instances of the truth and propriety of this remark. But
as I have already enlarged so much, they shall be very few in compa-
rison with what might be produced ; and shall be chietly taken from the
Gospel of St. John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, communicated
to him. In the latter book, we meet with the following passages among
others : —
" John, to the seven Churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto
you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come,
[viz. from the eternal God,] and from the seven Spirits \\ hich are before
his throne, [viz. the Holy Ghost, whose operations are manifold] and
frorn Jesus Christ, [a mere man !] who is the faithful Witaess, the first
begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth ! Unto
him [the mere man !] that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God, and his
Father, to him [mere man as he is !] be glory and dominion for ever and
ever ! Amen ! Behold, he [a mere man !] cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him, and all kindreds of
the earth shall wail because of him ! even so ! Amen ! Verse 9 : I, John,
who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, atid in tlie king-
dom and patience of Jesus, [the kingdom and patience of a mere man!]
was in the isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and tor the testimony of
Jesus Christ, [the testimony of a mere man !] I was in the Spirit on the
Lord's day, [the day of the same mere man !] and heard behind me a
great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I [a mere man !] am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last ! And 1 turned to see the voice that spake
with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like the Son of man ; his head
and his hair were white hke wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were
as a flame of fire ; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned
in a furnace ; and his voice as tlie sound of many waters : and he had
in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-
edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shming in his strength.
And when I saw him, [tliough he be a mere man !] I fell at his feet cis
dead : and he laid his right hand upon- me, saying unto ine. Fear not, I
[a Ihere man !] am the First and the Last! I am he that liveth and was
dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen ! and have llie keys of
death and of hell !" I do not wonder that Dr. Priestley doubts the au-
thenticity of the Apocalypse.
Proceed we to chap, v, 5 : " One of the elders said unto me, Weep
G06 LETTERS TO THE KEV. 31K. WBSLEY.
not, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judali, the root of David, [who, how-
ever, is but a mere man, and did not exist till many hundred years atler
David's death !] hatli prevailed to open the book and loose the seven
seals thereof. And 1 beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of
tlie four living creatures, and iii the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb
as it had been slain, having seven eyes and seven horns, which are the
seven Spirits of God, sent tbrth into all the earth : [for though a mere
man, to him belong tlie seven Spirits of God !J and he came and took
the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four livnig creatures, and the four-and-
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, sayuig. Thou art worthy to
take the book and open the seals thei'eof : for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us unto God by thy blood, [the blood of a mere man !] out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made us
unto our God kings and priests. And I heard the voice of many angels,
round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders : and
the number of tliem was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands
of thousands ; saying, with a loud voice. Worthy is [the mere man !] the
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glpry, and blessing : and every creature
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that ai'e m them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that silteth upon the throne,
[viz. to the eternal God,] and to the Lamb, [a mere man !] for ever and
ever ! And the four living creatures said. Amen ! And the four-and-
tvventy elders fell down, and worsliipped him that liveth for ever and
ever!" What will the disciples of Socmus say to this? Surely, if Christ
be a mere man, idolatry is committed, even in heaven !
And as the Father and the Son are associated in claiming and receiv-
ing Divine worship from the saints, whether men or angels, so also in
taking vengeance on sinners. Thus, chap, vi, 16 : "They said to the
mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb ; [that is, the
wrath of a mere man !] for the great day of his wrath is come, and who
shall be able to stand ?" who shall be able to bear the wrath of a mere
man ?
Equally remarkable is the following passage : — " After this, I beheld,
(chap, vii, 9,) and lo a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations and Idndreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
[viz. of Jehovah,] and before the Lamb, [that is, before a mere man,]
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud
voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb," a mere man ! Here again, according to Dr. Priestley, a
mere man is worshipped, and salvation is ascribed to him, as well as to
the infinite Jehovah! And, verse 13, the saints that have come out of
great tribulation are said to have washed their robes, and made them
white hi his blood ! " Therefore, (it is added,) are they before the throne
of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun Uglit on them, nor any
heat : for the Lamb, [a mere man, says the doctor !] who is in the midst
SOCINIAMSM UNSCBIPTURAL. 60t
of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to fountains of living
water; and (xod shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." So that,
if the doctor be right, a mere man, in conjunction with the supreme God,
is the author of their everlasting felicity. And, chap, xi, 15, the king-
doms of this world are represented as " become his kingdoms," and he is
said to reign for ever and ever, being, chap, xvii, 14, " Lord of lords,
and King of kings !"
Chapter xix, 11, we meet with a description of this reigning King ; a
description which but ill agrees with the character of a mere man.
" His name (we ai'e assured) is called Faithful and True, and in right-
eousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes are as a flame of fire,
and on his head are many crowns ; and he hath a name written, that
no man knoweth but himself. And he is clothed with a vesture dipped in
blood ; and his name is called the Word of God ! And out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations : and he
shall rule them with a rod of iron : and he treadeth the wine press of the
fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, and
on his thigh, a name written. King of kings, and Lord of lords."
In the twentieth chapter is displayed " a great white throne, and he
[a mere man, shall wo say ?] that sits on it ; from whose face the earth
and the heaven flee away, and there is found no place for them : and
the dead, small and great, stand before God, [Dr. Piiestley says, before
a mere man !] and the books are opened, and the dead are judged out
of those things which are written in the books, according to their works."
Here the mere man appears to be the universal Judge, and they that
stand before him are said to stand before God ! And in the next chapter,
the same person is represented as the bridegroom of the Church, which
has its Maker, that is, on the Socinian hypothesis, a mere man, for its
husband ! " And he carried me away in the Spirit, to a great high
mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descend,
ing out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And I saw no
temple therein ; for the Lord God Almighty, and [a mere man !] the
Lamb, are the temple of it ; and the city had no need of the sun, nei-
ther of the moon to shine in it : for the glory of God [the infinite
Jehovah] did lighten it; and the Lamb [a mere man!] is the light
thereof." As if one were to say. The sun and a candle are the hght of
the world ! " And the nations of tlieni that are saved sjjall walk in the
light of it," viz. in the light issuing from Jehovah, and a mere man !
" And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, but they
who are written in the Lamb's book of life," that is, the book of life of a
mere man !
And as Jehovah and a mere man arc the jouit sources of light, so of
life and consolation also. For, chap, xxii, 1 : " He showed me a pure
river of water of fife, clear as crystal, proceeding out of tlie throne of
God, and of the Lamb, [that is, the throne of Jehovah, and a mere man !]
And, ver. 3 : There shall be no more curse : but the throne of God [the
Supreme Being] and of the Lamb [a mere man !] shall be in it ; and his
servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall
be on their foreheads. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [that is, the
grace of a mere man] be with you all ! Amen."
Such is the doctrine of St. Jolm in the Apocalypse ; a doctrine which.
608 LETTEK8 TO THE RKV. SIR. WESLEY.
on the Socinian principles, can never be reconciled with common sense.
As little will any one be able to reconcile therewith the doctrine con-
cerning Ciirist, taught in his Gospel. This book, according to Jerome,
(lib. de Scriptorihus Eccles.,) was written after the epistles, and the
Apocalypse, at the request of the bishops of Asia, " against Cerinthus,
and other heretics, and chiefly against the then spreading doctrine of the
Ebionites, who asserted that Christ had no existence before Mary : for
which reason (he tells us) he was constrained to speak plainly of his
Divine generation." That this account is true, we have every reason
to believe, not only from the known veracity of Jerome, but also from
the nature of the testimony, borne throughout this Gospel concerning
Christ ; a testimony wliich, if supposed to be meant of a mere man, is
certainly, to say the least, not intelligible. The following quotations
make tliis manifest : — " In the beginning was the Word, [viz. a mere
man !] and the Word [tliis mere man !] was with God, and the Word [the
same mere man] was God. All things were made by him, [even the
whole creation, though it had been made at least four thousand years
before he existed !] and without him [the same mere man] was not any
thing made that was made. In him [viz. in this mere man !] was life,
and the life was the liglit of men ; and the light shineth in darkness, and
the darkness comprehended it not. Jolm [a mere man] was not that
light, but came to bear witness of that light : that [mere man, Christ]
was the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world !"
A strange assertion truly ! " He [this mere man] was in the world, and
the world was made by him, [was made by a mere man!] and the world
knew him not. He came to his own, and his ow n recei\ed him not :
but as many as received him, to them gave he [mere man as he was !]
power to become the sons of God ; even to them that believe in his
name. And the Word [a mere man !] was made flesh, [I wish Dr.
Priestley would tell us what he was before he was made flesh,] and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, [that is, the glory of a mere man !] full of grace and
truth : [a mere man full of grace and truth !] and of his fulness [the
fialness of a mere man !] have all we received grace for grace. For the
law was given by Moses, [a mere man,] but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ," a mere man also !
I need proceed no farther with the testimony of St. John. This re.
markable passage, placed in the front of his Gospel, like the preamble
to an act of parliament, manifestly shows the design of the whole book,
and is a key to all those discourses of our Lord, and of John the Baptist,
recorded by this apostle, in which Jesus is represented as the Son, " and
the only begotten Son of God," and is declared to have pre-existed, and
to have come down from heaven. It proves, to a demonstration, that
St. John considered Christ as being the Son of God, in a sense in w hich
no other being, man or angel, is his son ; and that he looked upon him
as pre-existing, not as a creature, but as the creating Logos or \Vo7-d of
the Father, who, in union with the Father, is the Creator and Lord of
all creatures, visible and invisible. And as he produces the testimony
of John the Baptist, and of Christ, in confirmation of his own testimony,
it cannot be doubted but he understood them in the same light ; and
methinks in the same light every one must understand them who believes
SOCINIANISM UNSCRIl'TURAL. 609
them to have been possessed of common sense, and impartially considers
their testimony. Only let the following passages be attended to without
prejudice, and \\hile the absurdity of applying them to a mere man is
noticed, let it be observed also how clearly they describe, and how
exactly they characterize that proper and only begotten Son of the Fa-
ther, who is his Wisdom and Word incarnate, and the Creator and Lord
of men and angels.
John bare witness of him, and cried : '< This [mere man, shall we
say ?] was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me ; for he [though a mere man, and born after me] was before
me !" This is the record of John : " I am the voice of one crying in
the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, [that is, the way of
a mere man !] as said the Prophet Esaias : I baptize you with water ;
but there standeth one [mere man] among you, whom ye know not : he
it is who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoes' latchet
I am not worthy to unloose. The next day John seeth Jesus coming,
and saith. Behold the Lamb of God, [that is, behold a mere man !] who
taketh away the sins of the world. [For, though a mere man, he taketh
away, or makes atonement for the sins of all men !] This is he of whom
I said. After me cometh a man who is preferred before me, for [though
a mere man !] he was beibre me. And I knew him not ; but that he [a
mere man] should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come bap-
tizing with water. And I knew him not ; but he that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending and remaining on him, the same is he [viz. the mere man !]
that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record, that
this is the Son of God," that is, says Dr. Priestley, a mere man !
Again, chap, iii, 28 : "I am not the Christ, but I am sent before
him. He [the mere man] that hath the bride is the bridegroom ; but
the friend of the bridegroom that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth
greatly, because of the bridegroom's voice : this my joy, therefore, is
fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He [the mere man !]
that cometh from above, [though a mere man,] is above all. He that is
of the earth, is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He [the same mere
man] that cometh from heaven is above all." Will Dr. Priestley tell lis
how it could be said Christ came from heaven, any more than John the
Baptist, on his principles ? " The Father (addeth he) loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into his hands. He that believeth on the Son
[that is, on a mere man !] hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth
not the Son [viz. this mere man] shall not see hfe, but the wrath of (jod
abideth on him.
The other evangelists agree with St. John, respecting the testimony
of the Baptist. Thus, Matt, iii, 11: "I indeed baptize you with water,
unto repentance ; but he [a mere man, as say the disciples of Socinus]
that cometh after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy
to bear ; he [tliough a mere man !] shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost cuid with fire : whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his Iloor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn
up the chatV with un<iucnchable tire."
Such is the testimony, which, according to the cvangehsts, John the
Baptist bore of Christ : a testimony which thev must have judged to bo
Vol. 111. 39
610 liETTBKS TO THE KEV. MK. WESLEY.
of deep importance, and therefore have recorded it with great care, as
being a full and perfect confirmation of the views they entertained them-
selves, and laboured to give others, of Jesus of Nazareth. But, methinks,
eveiy reasonable and unprejudiced man must allow, that it is a testimony
which, if supposed to be borne of a mere man, is most ridiculous ; nay,
and absolutely false. For if Jesus Christ be a mere man, of no higher
origin than John, inasmuch as he was born some months after him, it is
not true that he was before him ; much less is it true, that whereas
John was from beneath, he was from above ; and that whereas John was
of the earth, he was from heaven. According to Dr. Priestley's hypo-
thesis, they were equally from beneath, equally from the earth ; and
however Christ might be preferred before John, yet the reason of that
preference could not be that which John assigns, viz. that Christ was
before him, for in reality he was before Christ. As to the rest of his
testimony, I make no remark upon it. It is obvious to the most inatten-
tive observer, that it is impossible it should agree with a mere man, who,
how much soever he might be honoured or exalted, could never, with any
propriety, be said to be above all, to have all things delivered
INTO HIS HANDS, oi to be the bridegroom of the Church, the owner and
possessor of the bride ; by believing in whom she obtamed everlasting
life ; and much less could he be able to " baptize with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire," to separate, with infinite discernment, between the precious
and the vile, and " burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
I should now proceed to the testimony borne by Christ himself; but
having already drawn this letter out to a sufficient length, I break off
here, and subscribe myself, Rev. sir, yours, &c.
LETTER XI.
Rev. Sir, — According to the testimony of the evangeUsls, when
Jesus was transfigured on the holy mount, there came a voice from the
excellent glory, saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye him." In obedience to the Divine command, let us
now attend, while this beloved Son of the Father bears record of him-
self, that we may learn from his own lips to form a right judgment of
his person, made the subject of so much dispute and altercation. Dr.
Priestley is fully persuaded that he is a mere man. In order that we
may be able to determine whether the doctor's opinion be according to
truth, let us bring it to the surest of all tests, the test of the doctrine
taught by Christ himself. The doctor (I think) will not deny that he is
the Amen, the faithful and true Witness. Of consequence an
opinion which cannot bear the test of his doctrine is not of God. Let
us see, therefore, whether the testimony w-hich he bears of himself be
consistent with common sense, on the Socinian principles.
" Jesus sa\v Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an
Israelite indeed, in Avhom is no guile ! Nathanael saith unto him,
Whence knowest thou me ? Jesus answered. Before that Philip called
thee, when than wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael
answered and said unto liini, Rabbi, thou art [a mere man ? no ! Thou
SOCINIANISM UNSCBIPTUKAL. 611
art] the Son of God ! Thou art the King of Israel ! Jesus answered,
and said unto him, Because I said unto tiiee, I saw thee under the fig
tree, beUevest thou ? Thou shalt see greater things than these. De-
stroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up : he spake of the
temple of his body." And is he who spake this a mere man? Can a
mere man raise his own body from death ? especially if, according to Dr.
Priestley, he have no soul, but the whole of him be dead and insensible ?
Again, chapter iii : " No man hath ascended up into heaven, but he
[the mere man ! says Dr. Priestley] that came down from heaven, even
the Son of man, who [though a mere man and now upon earth] is in
heaven ! For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, [that is, if we believe the Socinians, a mere man, of no higher
origin than others,] that whosoever believeth on him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son [a mere man] into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him [that is,
through one mere man] might be saved. He that believeth on him [a
mere man] is not condemned ; but he that beheveth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God." I make no reflections on these solemn declarations of our
Lord. Every reader must consider them as being both false and absurd,
on the supposition of his being a mere man. Again, chapter iv : " If
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee. Give me
to drink ; thou wouldst have asked of him, [that is, according to Dr.
Priestley, thou wouldst have prayed to a mere man !] and he [a mere
man though he be] would have given thee hving water." And who that
reads these words, can doubt whether Jesus Christ encouraged prayer
to be addressed to him ? Again : " Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I [a mere man !] shall give him, shall never thirst : but the water
that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up unto
life eternal." Here again, if Jesus Christ be a mere man, he manifestly
encourages idolatr}^. This he does also, chapter vii, 37 : " If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink : he that believeth on me, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believed on him should receive."
But what shall we say to the follo^ving words ? In what light do they
appear, if they be considered as proceeding out of the mouth of a mere
man ? Chapter v, 17 : " My Father [the eternal God] worketh hitherto,
and I [a mere man !] work." Verse 19 : " Verily I say unto you, the
Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do : for
whatsoever things he [the infinite Jehovah] doth, these also doeth the
Son [a mere man !] hkewise. For the Father [the eternal God] loveth
the Son, [a mere man !] and showcth him [though but a man] all things
that himself doeth ; and will show him greater works than these, that
ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth
them, even so the Son [a mere man !] quickeneth whom he will. For
the Father [the great God] judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son, [a mere man !] that all men should honour the
Son, [that is, should honour a mere man !] even as they honour [the
infinite Jehovah, viz.] the Father! He that honoureth not the Son, [this
mere man !] honoureth not the Father who sent him ! Verily, verily, I
say unto you, the hour conielh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
613 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
voice of the Son of God, [viz. the voice of a mere man !] and they that
hear shall live. For as the Father [the everlasting Jehovah] hath life
in himself, so hath he given to the Son [that is, to a mere man !] to have
life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also,
because he is the Son of man ;" that is, because he, a mere man, is a
mere man ! A strange reason truly. Our Lord goes on : " Marvel not
at this, the hour is coming, in which all that are in their graves shall
hear his voice, [the voice, says Dr. Priestley, of a mere man !] and shall
come forth."
Methinks eveiy reasonable man that considers this extraordinary pas-
sage, must allow, that if the Lord Jesus be a mere man, (I speak it with
reverence,) he never can be acquitted of the crime which the Jews laid
to his charge, (chap, x, 33,) I mean the henious crime of blasphemy.
Are these expressions fit to be used by a mere man ? or by any mere
creature, however exalted ? Put them into the mouth of Gabriel, and
try how they sound. " My Father worketh hitherto, and 1 work.
Whatsoever things God doth, these doth Gabriel likewise. As God
raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so Gabriel quickenetli
whom he will. God hath committed all judgment unto Gabriel, that all
men should honour Gabriel, even as they honour God. He that
honoureth not Gabriel, honoureth not God. The dead shall hear the
voice of (Tabi-iel, and live. All that are in their graves shall hear his
voice, and shall come forth." Is not this language blasphemous, even
from the mouth of the holy Angel Gabriel, who stands before God, and
it seems is one of the liighest order ? If even he, or the Archangel
Michael used it, would they not deserve, and would they not meet with
the condemnation of the devil ? And let it not be said, that the angels
have no right to use this language, because they have not been exalted
to the authority and power to which the Son of man is exalted. For if
God will not give his glory to another, as he hath sworn he will not, it
is certain no mere creature can be so exalted as to have a right to use
such language, which would manifestly be to equal himself (as the Jews
said) with God.
And then it is not here only that our Lord expresses himself in this
manner. He is frequently speaking to the same purpose. Thus,
ver. 39 : " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have etemal
life, and it is they that testify of me ; and ye will not come to me [that
is, according to Dr. Priestley, ye will not come to a mere man !] that
ye might have life." Again, chap, vi, 32 : " My Father giveth you the
true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he [the mere man, if wc
believe the doctor and Socinus, born of Joseph and Mary] who cometh
down from heaven, [that is, that cometh from a place where he had
never been !] and giveth Ufe unto the world. I [a mere man !] am the
bread of life ; he that cometh to me [mere man as I am !] shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. All that the
Father giveth me shall come unto me, [a mere man!] and him that
cometh unto mc I will in no wise cast out : for I [a mere man] came
down from heaven not to do mine owji will, but the will of him that sent
mc. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth
the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting Ufe, and I [a mere
man !] will raise him up at the last day.
SOCIMANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 613
" The Jews then murmured at him, [as methinks Dr. Priestley and the
Socinians must necessarily do,] because he said, I am the bread which
came down from heaven ; and they said, | in language similar to tliat of
Dr. Priestley,] Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and
mother we know ? How is it that he [a mere man] saith, I came down
from heaven ? Jesus, therefore, answered, [it would be well if the abet-
tors of the Sociniiin doctrine would weigh the answer,] Murmur not
among yourselves. No man can come unto me except the Father who
sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life : I
am the bread of lite. Ver. 50 : This is the bread that came down from
heaven ; that a man may eat thereof and not die. I [a mere man, born
of Joseph and Mary] am the Uving bread which came down from
heaven : if a man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever : and the
bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world." The whole of this discourse is absurd and impious, on the
Socinian principles.
Again, ver. 53 : " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I [a mere man] will raise him
up at the last day. For my flesh [mere man though I be] is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, [a mere man !] and I [a mere man !]
dwell in him. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as
your fathers did eat manna, and ai-e dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live for ever." (ycrtautly if our Lord be no more than a man, he
must have intended lo mislead his hearers. He adds : " Doth this offend
you ? What, and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he
was before ?" Now, if he be a mere inan, who had no existence till
born in Bethlehem, he asserts a falsehood here. He had never been in
heaven before. As also, chap, viii, 19, 23 : " If ye had known me
[a mere man] ye would have known my Father also ! Ye are from
beneath ; I am from above : ye are of this world ; I am not of this
world !" Are these the words of the faithful and true Witness ? Are
they the words of soberness and truth ? Are these that follow ? " If
God were your Father, yon would love me, for I proceeded forth and
came from God. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and
he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou ail not
yet lifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said unto them,
Yerily, verily, I say luito you, before Abraham was, I am." How distant
from common sense, as well as piety, is language like this, proceeding
from the mouth of a mere man !
Chapter tenth furnishes us with many examples of a similar kind.
" I [a mere man !] am the door of the slieep : l)y me, if any man enter
in, he shall be saved, ;uid shall go in and out, and shall find pasture. I
[the same mere man] am come, that they might have life, and that they
might have it more aijundantly. I am the good Shepherd ; the good
Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. [I say again, though a mere
man,] ver. 14, I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am
known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, [a mere man,] so I [a
mere man] know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
614 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
And other sheep have I, which are not of this fold, them also I [a mere
man] must bring in, and they shall hear my voice, [the Aoice of a mere
man,] and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay do^\'n my life, that I [a mere man]
may take it again ; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of my-
self; I [a mere man !] have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."
Ver. 27 : " My sheep hear my voice, and I [a mei'e man !] know them,
and they follow me, and [though a mere man] I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my
hand. My Father that gave them me is greater than all, and none is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand ; I and my Father [that is,
if we believe Dr. Priestley, a mere man and the eternal God] are one !"
Well might the Jews accuse him of blasphemy. Surely, if he be a mere
man, he caimot be acquitted of that dreadful crime. For he speaks as
tliough the almighty ]>ower of the Father were liis own, to be used by
him at his pleasure, for the protection of his sheep. Agaui, ver. 37 :
" If I [a mere man !] do not the works of the Father, believe me not :
but if I do, though ye believe not me, beheve the works, that ye may
know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him."
And, methinks, his words to Martha appear very inconsistent with
truth, if considered as proceeding from the lips of a mere man : " I am
the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he die,
yet shall he live." Divers passages, also, in the two next chapters, if
understood as spoken by a mere man, seem equally ridiculous, as chap,
xii, 26 : " If a man serve me, [a mere man !] let him follow me. Yet
a little while (ver. 35) is the light [viz. a mere man !] with you : while
you have the light, beheve ui the light. Ver. 45 : He that secth me,
seeth him that sent me :" that is, on the doctor's principles, he that seeth
a mere man, seeth the eternal God ! " I [a mere man !] am come a
light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in
darkness. Chap, xiii, 3 : Jesus, [that is, a mere man,] knowing that
the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he [though a
mere man, who had no existence till born in Bethlehem !] was come
from God, and went to God," &c.
But more especially the discourses recorded in the three following
chapters are worthy of our attention in this view. According to the
Socinian doctrine, the Lord Jesus addresses his disciples in the follow-
ing and such like language, just before his departure from them : " Let
not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, [the Supreme Being,]
beheve also in me, [a mere man!] Verse 6 : I [a mere man] am the
way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me. If ye had know me, ye would have known my Father also ; [that
is, if ye had known a mere man, ye would have known the supreme
and everlasting God !] and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen
him. Philip saith unto him. Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, [a mere man] Philip ? He that hath seen me,
[that hath seen a mere man !] hath seen tlie Father ! Believest diou not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Verse 15 : If ye love
me, keep my commandments ; [the commandments of a inere man !] I
SOCIXIAXISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 615
will not leave you comfortless, I [a mere man !] will come to you. Yet
a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but you see me ; because
I [a mere man] live, ye shall live also ! He that loveth me, shall be
loved of my Father : and I [a mere man] will love him, and will mani-
fest myself to him. If a man love me, he will keep my words, [the
words of a mere man !] and my Father will love him, and we [that is,
both the omnipresent God, and I, a mere man, N. B.] will come unto
him, and make our abode with him !" Will Dr. Priestley inform us
how a mere man can come to, and make his abode with thousands and
myriads at the same time ? Verse 28 : " If ye loved me, ye would
rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than
I ;" that is, on the Socinian hypothesis, the eternal God is greater than
a mere man ! A wonderful discovery truly.
He proceeds, chapter xv : " I [a mere man] am the true vine, [into
which all belie\'ers, in all parts of the world, of every nation and age,
are ingrafted,] my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit he taketh away. Abide in me [that is, abide in a
mere man] and I [the same mere man !] in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, [from which it derives its
very bemg, and to which it is wholly indebted for all its life, growth, and
fruitflilness,] no more can ye, except ye abide in me, a mere man, whose off-
spring ye are, and on whom ye are dependent, not only for grace, but for
life, and breath, and all things !" Col. i, 16, 17. " He that abideth in me [a
mere man !] and I [the same mere man] in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit ; for w ithout me [that is, without a mere man !] ye can do
nothing." Strange doctrine, indeed ! What ! can we do nothing with
the help of God, without the help of this mere man ? " If any man,"
proceeds he, " abide not in me, [the same mere man, even though he
may suppose that he abides in the Father,] he is cast forth as a branch,
and is withered. If ye abide in me, [a mere man !] and my words [the
words of a mere man !] abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done for you." Verse 23 : " He that hateth me, [a mere
man,] hateth my Father also," the supreme and eternal God.
Pass we on to chapter xvi, 7 : " If I [a mere man] go not away, the
Comforter will not come : but if I depart, [though I am a mere man !] I
will send him unto you. He shall glorify me, [shall glorify a mere
man !] for he shall receive of mine, [that is, of the things of a mere
man !] and shall show unto you. All things that the Father [the infinite
and supreme God] hath are mine ; [they all belong to me, though I am
a mere man !] therefore said I, He shall take of mine, and show it unto
you. Verse 27 : The Father himself loveth you because ye have loved
me, [a mere man,] and have believed that I came forth from God."
N. B. " I [a mere man, shall we say ? Surely, if we say so, we must
give the lie to the faithful and true Witness ;] came forth from the
Father, and am come into the world ; a^ain, I leave the world, and go
to the Father." That the Lord Jesus spoke, and meant to be under-
stood Uterally, is certain, from what follows : his disciples said unto
him, " Lo now speakest thou plainly : now are we sure that thou
knowest all things : by this we believe that thou earnest forth from
God !" That is, according to Dr. Priestley's system, we believe a lie !
How extraordinary is this whole discourse of our Lord, according to
616 LETTERS TO THE REV. JtR. WESLEY.
the Socinian doctrine ! How remote from every principle of reason
and religion, that we are acquainted with ! But, what is worst of all,
this doctrine makes the Son of God utter this nonsense, nay, I may say,
this impiety and blasphemy to his P'ather, in the most solemn exercise
of devotion. Thus, chapter xvii, 1 : " Father, glorify thy Sou, [that is,
glorify a mere man !] that thy Son may glorify thee. O Father, glorify
me with thine own self, with the glory I [a mere man, born but about
thirty years ago] had with thee before the world was ! They [my dis-
ciples] have known assuredly that I came out from thee, [though I had
no existence till I was born in Bethlehem,] and have believed that thou
didst send me. Verse 10 : All mine are thine, and [though I am a
mere man !] thine are mine, and I [the same mere man !] am glorified
in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
woi-ld, and I come to thee. Father, I will that they whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am : that they may behold my glory
which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation
of the world ;" me, who, being a mere man ! had no existence till a few
years ago !
Such is the testimony, which, according to St. John, the Son of God
bore of himself, while upon earth, in his most solemn discourses to the
Jews, whom he laboured to bring to repentance, over whom he wept,
and whom he died to redeem ; and to his own disciples, whom he was
thus preparing to go forth and instruct all nations, and whom, in this
way, he was arming for persecution, imprisonment, and martyrdom ;
and in his most devout and fervent prayers addressed to his Father, just
before his crucifixion : a testimony which, I will venture to say, neither
Dr. Priestley, nor any of the Socinians upon earth, will ever be able to
reconcile, with the doctrine of our Lord's mere Immanity, on the prin-
ciples of common sense. As little will they be able to reconcile there-
with the testimony which the other evangelists record him to have
borne. Two or three passages only I shall produce, as a specimen of
the rest. Thus, Matt, xi, 27-30 : " All things are dehvered unto me
[that is, if we believe the Socinians, unto a mere man] of my Father :
and no man knoweth the Son [that is, knoweth a mere man !] but the
Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, [the same
mere man !] and he, to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him. Come
imto me [that is, come unto a mere man !] all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I [a mere man !] will give you rest! Take my yoke
upon you, [the yoke of a mere man !] and learn of me : for my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light. Upon this rock will T [a mere man !]
build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. For
where two or three are met together in my name, I [a mere man !] am
there in the midst of them. [For, though a mere man, I am omnipre-
sent !] All power is given unto me [that is, given unto a mere man !]
in heaven and on earlh : go ye, therefore, and teacli all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, [the true, living, and ctenial God,] and
of the Son, [a mere man !] and of the Holy Ghost ; [the power of («od!J
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I [a mere man !] have
commanded you : and, lo ! I [a mere man !] am with you always, even
unto the end of the world." For, I say again, ihovigh a mere man, I am
omnipresent, and can and will be with vnu, be you ever so many thou-
SOCmiANISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 617
sands and myriads, at all times and in all places ! An extraordinary
promise, indeed, to proceed from the lips of a mere man !
Once more, and I have done. We have reviewed the testimony borne
by Christ, while upon earth, in the days of his humiliation, and have
:f6und it inconsistent with common sense, on the principles of Unitarian-
.itsih. Let us now attend to the testimony borne by him, since his ascen-
. "feion into heaven. This, I am persuaded, we shall find equally, if not
Vriore irreconcilable therewith, on the same principles.
• Rev. ii, 1 : " These things saith he [the mere man !] that holdeth the
.'SOTen stars in his right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven
'rgolden candlesticks : [being always present with, and among his people,
■•»Ybough a mere man!] I [a mere man !] know thy works, and thy labour,
;; ftnd thy patience, and how thou canst not bear those that are evil :
i nevertheless, I [a mere man !] have against thee, that thou hast left thy
■ first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and i*e-
pent : or else I [a mere man ! confined in heaven, till the restitution of
all things !] will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candle-
stick out of its place. To him that overcometh will I [though a mere
man !] give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the para-
dise of God ! Ver. 8 : Unto the angel of the Church of Smyrna, write : —
These things saith the First and the Last, [that is, says Dr. Priestley,
a mere man !] who was dead and is alive ; I know thy works, and thy
tribulation, and thy poverty. Fear none of those things which thou
shalt sufler : but be thou faithful unto death, and I [a mere man !] will
give thee a crown of life. Verse 12 : To the angel of the Church of
Pergamos : These things saith he [the mere man !] who hath the sharp
sword with two edges ; I know thy works — but I have a few things
against thee. Repent, or else I [the same mere man !] will come unto
thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my moiUh.
To him that overcometh will I [a mere man !] give to eat of the hidden
manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Verse 18 :
Xlnto the angel of the Church of Thyatira write : — These things saith
;^ihe Son of God, [whom the Socinians thinli a mere man, but] who hath
'.'\ns eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass ; 1 [a mere
mail !] know thy works, and the last to be more than the first : notwith-
standing, I have a few things against thee, that thou permittest that wo-
rimn .lezebel to teach and seduce my servants : and I [a mere man !]
gave her space to repent, and she repented not. Behold, I [the same
mere man !] will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery
with her, into tribulation. And I will kill her children with death : and
all the Churches shall know that 1 [a mere man !] am he that seai'cheth
the reins and the heart ! And I will give unto eveiy one of you accord-
ing to your works. But unto you, I say, and the rest at Thyatira, I
[a mere man !] will put ujjon you no other burden, but that which you
have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keep-
eth my word to the end, will I [a mere man !] give power over the
nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and I will give him
the morning star. Chapter iii, 1 : Unto the angt;l of the Church of Sar-
dis write : — "^fhese things saith he [the mere man !] that hath the seven
Spirits of (iod, and the seven stars ; I [the same mere man !] know thy
618 LETTERS TO THE REV. MR. WESLEY.
works. Be wafcliful, and strengthen tlie things wliich remain, for I
have not found tl)y works perfect before God. If thou wilt not watch,
I [a mere man !] will come unto thee as a thief, and thou shalt not
know what hour I will come unto thee. He that overcometh, the
same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I [a mere man !] will not
blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name
before my Father, and before his angels. Verse 7 : To the angel of
the Church in Philadelphia: — These things saith [a mere man? No!
but] he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the keys of David ! he
that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man openeth :
I know thy works : behold, I [a mere man !] have set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut it : for thou hast a little strength, and
hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name : [the word and name
of a mere man !] Behold, I [a mere man as I am !] will make them of
the synagogue of Satan to come and worship at thy feet, and to know
that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience,
I also [though but a man !] will keep thee from the hour of tempta-
tion, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon
the earth. Behold, I come quickly ! Hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown. Verse 14 : To the angel of the Church
of the Laodiceans : — These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true
Witness, the beginning [apX"^* the principle, origin, head, and governor'\
of the creation of God, I [a mere man !] know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot : so then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither
cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. I counsel thee to buy
of me [that is, of a mere man !] gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed. As many as
I love, I [a mere man !] rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and
repent. Behold, I [a mere man !] stand at the door and knock. If any
man hear my voice, and open the door, [for I am present at the door of all
hearts !] I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me. To
him that overcometh will I [though but a man !] grant to sit down with
me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with the
Father on his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith [that is, what Christ saith by his Spirit] unto the Churches," and
let him consider whether they are the words of a mere man ! And that
he may not pass a matter of such moment over slightly, let him turn to
-the last chapter of tliis book, and reflect upon the solemn and awful tes-
timony borne by the same person, verse 7 : " Behold, I come quickly :
Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."
Verse 12 : " Behold, I come quickly, and my reward [shall we say the
reward of a mere man ?] is with me, to give every one according as his
work shall be. I [though viewed by some as a mere man !] am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." And let
me assure you, " I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you
these things in the Churches." And if you still be ignorant who I am,
and therefore be in danger of not paying a due regard to my testimony,
let me inform you farther, that I am both God and man, both the Son of
God, and son of man : let me affirm, that " I am the root and offspring
of David, and the bright and morning star." And that you may not
only give credit to what I say, but lay it to your heart with the serious-
SOCINIAXISM rXSCKIPTURAt. 619
ness whicli its importance demands, I, the same person that testify these
things, add, " Surely, I come quickly." Amen, even so, come Lord
Jesus, and give the opposers of thy divinity to know that thou art more
than a mere man ! Not doubting, reverend sir, but you will join with
me, and the Church universal, in this important petition, and hoping that
the time approaches when tlie Son of God will appear for himself, and
show the universe who and what he is, I here put a period to this little
work, and subscribe myself your obedient servant in the same Christ
Jesus,
Joseph Benson.
END of vol. III.
/
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